


I Always Wanted You

by painted_lady12



Series: What the Heart Wants [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Counter kisses, Domestic Fluff, Enthusiastic Consent, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Smut, Forehead Kisses, Girls Kissing, Hook-Up, Lesbian Sex, Love Confessions, Masturbation, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Multiple Orgasms, Mutual Pining, Oral Sex, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 04, Rare Pairings, Rescue Missions, Research, Riding, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Shameless Smut, Vaginal Sex, some plot in there somewhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-03-09 15:11:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 34,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13484139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/painted_lady12/pseuds/painted_lady12
Summary: Katie hasn't been "Pidge" in a long time.  She's working hard on research to help revolutionize space travel, and killing it, at that.After Voltron disbanded and the members scattered to the ends of the universe, they’d each been given an emergency beacon by Coran.  If someone presses it, every other paladin of Voltron would be alerted, and their location would be tracked.  When Katie gets alerted that Keith is in danger, she rushes to help him, only to discover that she wasn't the only one trying to save him.This is the Shidge fic I didn't know I needed.  Also Katie gets some fun gay sex, and Shiro is struggling with the ramifications of the experiments Haggar did on him.





	1. These Marks on My Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hi hello
> 
> So this is the Shidge fic that I didn't know I needed. You don't have to be a Shidge fan, but I've always enjoyed their relationship. Also, I needed a lighter fic to update, and for some reason I can only write Victuuri tragically. Go figure.
> 
> Some important notes:
> 
> 1) Pidge will be referred to as Katie in this fic as she has taken back on a feminine persona  
> 2) Katie will be very aged up and Shiro would not have aged at all, making their age difference only four years. There will be no RAPE/NON-CON or UNDERAGE  
> 3) Katie will be dating a fellow researcher at the beginning, and the two of them are both girls. I usually DO NOT write stories where the gay significant other is dropped for the straight option, and I tried my best not to let that be the tone here. If you want to read gay fics, I have SO MANY gay fics. Pick up literally any other fic I've written. If you don't like Shidge endgame, get out now. You haven't dug in too deep yet, you can still walk away.  
> 4) As of season 7 this is canon divergent whoops 
> 
> For my regular readers, this will be hella lighthearted compared to my normal content. So, enjoy!
> 
> Let me know how y'all like it!

There wasn’t a lot in the universe.

 

That’s what many people get wrong; you see, the universe is over 90% empty, just a few passing particles and perhaps a little starlight.  It’s also dark, which is something many people don’t grasp.  If you floated out in space, you’d be in an empty vacuum of complete and suffocating darkness.

 

They’d saved the world years ago.  They’d taken on the Galra and won, and had reinstated peace in the galaxy.  Voltron was a retired weapon, each of the lions scattered across the cosmos.  Only their paladins knew where they were being kept, and the paladins had long since disbanded their team.

 

Of course, that didn’t mean that the work was done.  Katie Holt was helping to engineer new materials to wormhole without the need for Altean energy, as Allura could not live forever.

 

This is where we find her, in fact.  Thin and lanky, wild hair pulled back into a ponytail, tongue sticking out as she slaved over a math problem.  She had to get the energy output just right, otherwise the material would simply explode when put into contact with an operator.  She’d grown up in all these years, long fingers clutching a pencil and clicking it over and over to give herself something to fidget with.  Her lab coat had a green lion embroidered on the pocket, given to her by Hunk last year for Christmas.

 

Katie almost fell asleep on her arm before one of her fellow researchers poked her awake.  Jessa pressed a kiss to her forehead, and Katie looked up, blushing.

 

“You’re pretty when you’re like this,” Jessa complimented, “All sleepy.”

 

Jessa’s raven black hair fell in a sheet down her back, bright green eyes practically glowing in the dark lab.  Katie and Jessa had once spent three days trying to track her family history to whichever alien species possessed that particular characteristic, but had come up blank.

 

“Let me just,” Katie started gathering her notes into a neat pile, but Jessa’s arms had encircled her waist, teasing at the bare stretch of skin revealed when her shirt was hiked up.

 

Katie gasped, the feeling setting her blood ablaze.  Jessa was… a fantasy come to life.  She was beautiful, she could keep up with Katie in the lab, and she was as much fun to be around as Katie could handle.

 

Jessa was the expected partner: they worked together, they’d both been pining for months, until finally Katie had slammed her foot down on the way back from the lab.

 

“ _I’m going to kiss you now,”_ Katie had said determinedly, and Jessa’s eyes had blown wide, “ _If you don’t want me to, say something.”_

 

Except this crazy thing happened.  Jessa kissed her first, and when they broke apart, Katie’s voice was shaking a bit as she whispered, “ _Oh_.”

 

This time they walked home together hand-in-hand.  They were doing their research on a moon with a few other species, funded by the Voltron Alliance.  As soon as Katie had hidden her lion where only she could find it, she walked right up to Coran and asked for funding to start exploring other ways to generate wormholes.

 

When they got back to Katie’s apartment, they tumbled towards the bed, pressing their heated lips together over and over again.  Jessa started mapping Katie’s body underneath her, sucking red welts into constellations on her skin.  Jessa’s kisses dropped lower, and she whispered, “I’m going to make you scream.”

 

It was playful and teasing, and Katie’s whole body lit up with anticipation as her pants were removed and a wet tongue started probing at her entrance.  Fingers were there suddenly, opening her up as the tongue worked at her outer labia and…

 

They’d done this enough times that Jessa went right for Katie’s clit now, biting at it playfully before swirling her tongue around it punishingly.  

 

It turns out that Jessa was right.  She would make Katie scream.

 

Later that night, as Katie’s strap on was pounding unrelentingly into Jessa’s stretched opening, Katie felt like the world had caught on fire around her. There was nothing but the two of them, and they may have left the lab to sleep, but they both knew they weren’t getting to bed for a while, at least.

  


***  


 

The next morning as Katie stood in front of her full-length mirror, she assessed the damage with a smug smile.

 

Her thighs were covered in hickeys, and she had a bite mark healing on her shoulder.  Her breasts were tender and also bruised.  Her lips were swollen with kisses, and as Katie surveyed herself, she wondered when they were going to talk about... it.

 

They’d been doing this for months, but there was never a conversation about what they were doing.  Katie liked to keep things simple: they enjoyed having sex, so they had sex.  Easy, understandable.  No room for error or miscommunication when all they were was… friends.

 

Friends who couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.

 

There was a sound coming from Katie’s living room, but she ignored it at first, studying her body clinically.  Despite being covered in marks, she had to admit that she’d aged well.  Her breasts hung heavy now, as opposed to being practically a boy’s chest seven years ago.  Her hips had widened, and she’d grown her hair out.  It brushed attractively down her back, and she ran her fingers through the wavy strands, biting her lip.

 

That’s when the sound became more incessant.

 

“I’m coming,” Katie said, until she realized that it wasn’t her normal phone ringing.

 

It was the alert beacon.

 

After Voltron disbanded and the members scattered to the ends of the universe, they’d each been given an emergency beacon by Coran.  If someone presses it, every other paladin of Voltron would be alerted, and their location would be tracked.

 

Katie threw on her robe and clicked the button on her glowing red screen, and a map appeared, showing somewhere not too far from her lab, a planet in the same solar system.

 

The person in danger was Keith, and he was on the move, fast.

 

It took Katie about ten minutes to find all of her space gear.  As she was hurrying around, Jessa sat up, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Emergency beacon,” Katie explained by tossing the device onto the bed.  Jessa ran her fingers over the device.

 

“This is the Greedon system,” Jessa whispered, “I fought there during the last battle of the war…”

 

Katie paused in getting ready, tossing Jessa’s shirt her way.  “Then you’re coming with me.”

  


***

  


Pidge had a small spacecraft just big enough to fit two or three people comfortably.  Jessa was her copilot, running some scans on the system they were shooting off to.

 

“It looks like Keith was sent there with the Blades to root out a rebellion,” Katie’s eyebrows knit together.  “Their government is otherwise stable.”

 

Jessa had connected the beacon to the ship.  “Keith should be on the north side of the planet,” she touched her chin thoughtfully, “He seems to have stopped moving, though.”

 

Katie grimaced at all the grisly possibilities that might have led Keith to stop so suddenly.

 

The ship flew in lower, and they were just over a marshland, foggy and warm.

 

“The atmosphere is extremely water dense, but it should be breathable to humans.  We should probably wear filter helmets, just to be on the safe side,” Jessa did a rough scan of the area.  “There seems to be a building that Keith is in.”

 

“I’m activating stealth mode,” Katie declared, “If this is a rebel hideout I don’t want them to know we’re coming.”

 

Katie had a black stealth suit for missions like this.  She hadn’t touched it in a few months, but it still fit her well.  She had a small pistol on a leg holster, and a few small knives on her belt, as well as some wires and hardware, and last but not least, her bayard.

 

The two of them flew low and parked the craft on top of a sturdy tree.  They climbed down the branches quickly and quietly, dropping almost silently on to the mud below.  They pressed the sides of their helmets to activate the scanning protocol, and Katie pointed towards the back left of the building.

 

“That’s where the beacon is transmitting from,” Katie moved quickly towards the side of the large black warehouse, Jessa covering her from behind.

 

“There aren’t any heat signatures,” Katie whispered, but Jessa shook her head.  

 

“There wouldn’t be, they’re ectotherms.  Like lizards,” Jessa stuck her tongue out quickly, like a lizard tasting the air, and Katie laughed.

 

She switched the scan from heat signatures to vibrations in the ground.  A few points were registering vibrations on the far side of the compound, but none were near where Keith was supposedly being kept.  

 

Pidge took out a small laser and cut a hole in the wall.  Jessa caught it as it fell, lowering it gently to the ground.  They moved into the empty hallway.

 

“Keith should be right up those stairs,” Katie pointed.  They scanned the area, but there were no Greedonites nearby as far as they could perceive.  They moved quietly up the metallic stairs, green lights illuminating them from below.

 

A sudden stuccato of vibrations from the landing above had them freezing in their place, ducking into a small side hallway at the top of the stairs.  Katie positioned herself in front of Jessa, sweat breaking out across her brow.

 

The steps started moving away above them, and they both breathed a sigh of relief, moving quietly back towards the room.

 

Katie tried the handle, and unsurprisingly it wouldn’t budge.  She moved the laser around the handle, and pried it quietly, moving into the room.

 

There were a few cells lined up against one wall.  Katie’s helmet sensed the beacon was in the far left cell, and they moved towards it, heart hammering against her chest.  There was a lump in there, sure enough, a breathing lump in a grey and purple suit.

 

“Keith,” Katie whispered, pushing off her helmet and handing it to Jessa, who was covering the door.  The lump moved, and two purple Galran eyes stared back luminously.  

 

“Pidge?” a voice whispered back, and Keith came out from the shadows.  He had a black eye and his one shoulder was bleeding, but he looked otherwise okay.  His long black hair was pulled back into a braid, and his mouth was agape.

 

“Hey, back up,” Katie whispered, and Keith did as he was told, scooting back as Katie used her laser on the lock of the cell.

 

Jessa pushed back quickly, pointing towards the door.  As Katie’s helmet was fit back onto her head, she gasped at the vibrations coming towards the room.  Katie ushered Jessa and Keith back into the cell, but quickly tied a wire around it to keep the door shut.

 

Keith hissed, and Jessa tried to open the door.  “Katie, don’t do this…”

 

“I shouldn’t have brought you along,” Katie whispered, and she pulled out two of her daggers, moving towards the door and leaning against the nearby wall.  She watched the intruder walk towards the door she’d opened herself, and once they were through…

 

Katie watched them enter then closed the door, pressing a knife against their throat and the small of their back.  She had them exactly where she wanted them.


	2. These Hands I Hold You In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge finds a familiar face while trying to rescue Keith, and they try to get everyone out in one piece

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello loves<3 
> 
> I hope you're all enjoying this so far! I have quite a few chapters written, I just need to edit the rest. So, for now, enjoy this chapter.
> 
> As usual, I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender

The creature froze up, except…

 

It wasn’t a creature…

 

They were much taller than Katie, hands raised in the air, and Katie sucked in a hot breath when she saw that one of the arms was metallic…

 

“Who are you?” Shiro’s voice came from this person, and Katie’s fingers shook on the blade, “I want an answer!”

 

“Katie, that’s not…” Jessa called, but Katie had already put two and two together.  She relaxed her grip, in time for Shiro to turn around and gape.  

 

“Katie?”

 

The name on his tongue sounded warm, and Katie pulled off her helmet, long red-brown hair falling down her back.  “Hey, Shiro.”

 

“I’m assuming you were answering the beacon as well?” Shiro was still tense, but was smiling, his tuft of silver hair falling attractively in his eyes.

 

“I was nearby,” Katie answered, knowing that she was staring a little bit.  She hadn’t seen Shiro in almost five months, since Christmas, and he hadn’t changed much but just the feeling of having him there…

 

“Hello?  Pidge?” Keith’s annoyed voice chirped from within the cell, “The rescue mission?”

 

“Oh, right,” she unhooked the wire from the door, and Jessa and Keith filed out, looking at Shiro with a mix of relief and confusion.

 

“Keith, Shiro, this is Jessa, my…” Katie suddenly went tomato-red, knowing that they hadn’t decided to label themselves, and not knowing what she would be comfortable with…

 

“Girlfriend,” Jessa supplied helpfully, holding her hand out.  Keith and Shiro did a double take, staring at the two attractive females for more than a few seconds.

 

That’s about when Keith squeaked out, “Girlfriend?”

 

“Yeah,” Katie guesses that, if they had to name it, that would be the right fit.

 

Shiro is the first to shake Jessa’s hand, and Keith goes next, looking suspiciously at Jessa.  “I don’t think we approved her, Pidge.”

 

The comment made Katie scoff.  “You guys can’t control who I date!”   
  


“Maybe not control, but we can definitely help screen to avoid you getting your heart broken,” Keith argued, but Shiro slapped Keith on the backside of the head.

 

“Let’s get out of this place.”

 

They all filed out of the room, and Jessa was taking them back the way they came before Katie whispered, “Wait!”

 

Everyone stopped and looked back, but Katie was eyeing something on her helmet’s screen.  “There’s a central command station for power right nearby.  If I plant one of my bugs there…”

 

“Then the Greedonites would be able to take down the rebels from the inside,” Shiro finished, and nodded.  “I’m coming with you.”

 

Grimacing, Katie whispered, “I don’t need a babysitter, Shiro.”

 

“Not a babysitter,” Shiro corrected, placing a large hand on her shoulder and quirking a smile.  “Just a partner that can watch your back.”

 

Jessa coughed uncomfortably.  “I’ve got that position covered, thank you.”

 

However, Katie was shaking her head.  “No, Jessa, you need to lead Keith back to the ship so you can start dressing his wounds.”

 

Jessa’s specialty was medicine and internal systems, so even though she opened her mouth to argue, she knew she didn’t have a case.  She quickly squeezed Katie’s hand and shared a meaningful glance.  “Come back to me, yeah?”

 

Nodding, Katie looked up at Shiro before they went off in the direction of the command room.  They were silent and quick, familiar with each other from years and years of battle training together.  Shiro was thirty-two now, but the robotic implants in his body have seemed to permanently stop his aging.  He looked the same as when he was twenty-five, just with longer hair and a harder stare.

 

Footsteps were suddenly coming in their direction, and Shiro pushed Katie into a crevice in the wall, pressing a finger to his lips.  The guard walked right past them without even blinking.

 

“They see mostly through movement,” Shiro whispered breathily, and Katie nodded, pulling them back towards the command room.

 

Shiro set up in front of the door, bayard at the ready.  Katie quickly activated one of her bugs and set it up right underneath the floorboard next to the control panel.

 

“Hurry up,” Shiro whispered, “We have company.”

 

They were out as quickly as they’d gone in, and soon they were climbing aboard Katie’s ship.

 

Jessa looked relieved when Katie got into the ship, tackling her against the wall in a tight hug.  

 

Confused, Katie held her as she whispered, “I was worried.”

 

Worried?  Why would she be worried?  She guessed it would suck if her friend died, of course, or… right, girlfriend.  They were girlfriends, now.

 

Jessa went quickly back to dressing Keith’s shoulder wound and Katie and Shiro rounded on the pilot seats.  It was a little cramped in Katie’s ship, but they managed to get out without being seen, and were flying through the air as Keith explained what happened.

 

“They said they were going to be an easy hit, so I went alone.  I guess I got cocky,” Keith was blushing a little, “I’m really glad you guys responded to my alarm.”

 

Shiro looked over at Katie, and they both shrugged, “My research is in the area,” Katie supplied, and Shiro shook his head.

 

“I just got here as fast as I could.”

 

“The government is waiting to hear news of what I’ve learned on my reconnaissance mission. I’m going to have to tell them…”

 

“That you planted a bug in their command room?” Katie suggested helpfully, and Keith smiled at her.

 

“Yeah, definitely that.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know you didn't ask for it, but here it is. Hope you guys stay on this wild ride with me, because I'm just excited to be here.
> 
> Let me know what you think<3 I love feedback


	3. My Breath On Your Lips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After planting the bug in the rebel base, team Voltron reunites for a few of the paladins to be given medals of honor at a party. Also, Katie gets blindsided by her own feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking that this will be around ten parts? Subscribe if you want to see where this party bus goes!

Katie was standing in front of the mirror, looking at herself with wonder.

 

“I honestly thought they were kidding when they said they were making us clothes,” Katie twirled around in her elegant dress once, the skirt flying up to her knees.  It was sheer and sparkly, with a black slip underneath and a dark green lacy number over top.  Jessa was next to her in a dark blue satin waterfall of a dress, plunging low on her chest.

 

“I mean, they did take down the rebels with your intelligence, so of course they’d have you a dress made for the celebration,” Jessa supplied helpfully, “Of course they would also outfit your brave companions in battle.”

 

Keith, Shiro, Katie, and Jessa had all been back in the city for a few days.  In that time the rebellion had been quashed.  The royal family was throwing a gala in their honor.

 

“I literally just put a piece of metal under another piece of metal,” Katie pouted, “I’ve done way cooler things with Voltron.”

 

Eyeing her girlfriend in the mirror, Jessa’s arms wrapped around her waist.  “Yeah, but you did this without any magic powers or angel lion or whatever.  This was all you, Katie.”

 

Katie leaned back against Jessa, running her fingers delicately over the side of her face.  “You look beautiful,” Katie supplied helpfully, and Jessa pressed a breathy kiss to her neck.

 

“You look positively radiant,” Jessa whispered, nibbling on Katie’s earlobe.  “Ready to get down to the party?”

 

The entire endeavor was both extravagant and overwhelming.  Lance and Hunk had arrived the day before after getting word that Keith was safe, and soon Katie was walking hand-in-hand with Jessa towards them.

 

Lance stopped dead when he saw the display, and narrowed his eyes.

 

“Did we approve this?” he asked, gesturing wildly to them like they were on display.  Keith looked smug with the knowledge that he wasn’t the only one concerned.

 

Katie stuck out her tongue, but apparently Shiro was completely distracted by something just behind her.  She glanced back and saw a few beautiful dresses, but nothing remotely eye-catching.

 

Confused, Katie joined with the rest of the group.  Allura had checked in with a video call, and Coran had sent a long email explaining the many reasons why he was too busy to respond to the call for help, including searching for dragons on a new planet, maintaining his new fishing habit, and raising his wild alien wolves from birth to adulthood.  Coran had apparently become one with nature in the time since Voltron dissolved.

 

The chandelier above the hall was sparkling and casting rainbows off against the vaulted ceilings.  Music was drifting through what looked like seashell instruments, and soon Katie felt a hand on her shoulder.

 

The touch was electric to her, and made her feel extremely warm.  It was Shiro, who was holding his human hand out to her.

 

“May I have this dance?”

 

Katie had never been asked to dance before, not by Shiro, and definitely never at a gathering like this.  Her confusion subsided after a short while, though, and she walked out onto the dance floor with Shiro and started a simple three step.

 

Shiro’s metallic arm was on her waist, and his human one was holding hers, twirling them around the ballroom.  Everywhere Shiro touched her felt warm.  His formal wear was specific to the Greedonites: flowy, spacious pants and a tight green tunic.  His metal arm was decorated in paints.

 

“Where…”

 

Chuckling, Shiro nodded towards the corner of the room, where a few kids were decorating everyone with paint.  “Apparently it’s a tradition to wear your battle scars decorated.”

 

Katie smiled, looking up at the face of the man who she was once closer to than anyone else.  It was extremely odd through the years to realize that Shiro would not age, and now, looking at him… he didn’t feel so far away, anymore.

 

“So where were you when you got Keith’s beacon?”

 

It happened in a flash: Shiro’s eyebrows raising, then dropping, eyes cast down to the floor.  “Just passing through the area.”

 

Oh, odd.  As Katie often mentions, space was mostly empty, and there were a lot places for Shiro to be.  Being in the same solar system as not just Keith, but Katie as well, was… odd.

 

“Are you still working with Allura as a negotiator specialist?”

 

He wouldn't make eye contact.  Until: “no.”

 

They waited a breath.  Shiro was quiet, until Katie interjected, “you’re still looking for her, aren't you?”

 

Haggar, the witch who experimented on Shiro and made him practically ageless.  The one that made him part alien robot, the one who was Zarkon’s right hand woman.  She escaped during the final battle, and hasn't been seen since.

 

“She has to know what's happening to me,” Shiro said distantly, lost in his own head before Katie snapped in front of his face to get his attention.  

 

“...what is happening to you?”

 

It was the way he spoke that clued her in, but Shiro just deflected.  “So how long have you and Jessa been together?”

 

That was a loaded question. They’d known each other for months. They’d been intimate for weeks.  They’d been a couple for… “four days?”

 

Shiro’s eyes widened. “Wait, so…”

 

“We hadn't defined it until you and Keith asked.  So, we defined it.”

 

Frowning, Shiro muttered, “Katie, you need to communicate better.  Most of you conversations end in your head when they should be out in the world.”

 

Katie blinked.  “Are you lecturing me on defining my relationship when you and Allura didn't give yourselves a name _ever?_ ”

 

His eyes widened.  “How… what…?”

 

Katie could remember all too clearly the day she found out how sex worked.  She’d always understood, clinically, what it meant. The mechanics were clear to her, and she had been well read on how most species procreated.  However, the day that she opened the door to the control room, and saw Shiro’s bare ass moving rhythmically as he pounded into the princess over the control panel, was the first time she'd ever understood what it was supposed to look like.

 

Both their faces had been so blissed out they didn't even notice Pidge edge away.

 

Katie, now.  Not Pidge.  Pidge died with Voltron.  Pidge died the day that the green lion was tucked away under…

 

Her face must have told it all, because Shiro was tomato-red.  “I didn't realize anyone knew…”

 

“Everyone knew,” Katie snapped, then calmed herself down, “you two were the only two who thought it was a secret.”

 

The visceral rage was unexpected for Katie.  She was usually a well-honed machine.  She was usually cool and collected.  She was usually… not like this.  The emotions were confusing.  Was she angry?  Scared?  Overwhelmed?  Maybe… jealous?

 

Sometimes things knock your whole world slightly off orbit. Sometimes a single word can snap everything into sharp focus, and Katie felt a slam into her universe harder than whiplash.  

 

Jealous?

 

That would mean that she…

 

The warmth radiating from where they met, the anger at the mention of him and Allura… did Katie have feelings for Takashi?

 

She let go like their connection electrified her.  There was no way, definitely no way.  Shiro was so much older than her!  She thought of him like an older brother… except she'd never had dreams about Matt, her actual brother, pressing her up against the wall.  

 

There was also later that night she caught them, after Pidge got back to her room, when… when she touched herself as she thought of the way Shiro’s sweat-caked hair fell in his eyes as he pounded into… and that is definitely not older brother like behavior.

 

Katie let go of Shiro suddenly, and his dark eyes widened.

 

“I’m sorry, Takashi, I need to freshen up.”

 

Her mind was stuck on one track.  She needed to prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that she wasn’t into Shiro.  She had to prove…

 

Jessa was laughing with Lance, and she grabbed her hand determinedly, marching off with her.  Lance was flabbergasted, but as soon as she found a quiet hall away from the party, she launched at Jessa, kissing and sucking and pressing her against the wall.

 

At first Jessa pushed back a little bit.  “Hey, whoa.  Are you alright?”

 

“Yes,” Katie said breathily, taking a step back, “I was just… testing a hypothesis.  Can I… keep testing it?”

 

There was still concern in Jessa’s face, but she brushed hair behind Katie’s ear, and whispered, “Of course.”

 

They were hot and fast in the hallway, dresses hitched and fingers pounding and teasing at each other.  Katie was on a whole other plane of existence when they were like this.  They wouldn’t have noticed if someone had seen them, and they honestly wouldn’t have cared.

 

As she was climaxing, her brain shot to a scene that she hadn’t allowed herself to imagine in all these years.  Where Shiro was thrusting into her, instead.

 

She had been too young to recognize it, then.  She couldn’t have known what it was.  Everyone else on the team was so much older than her, she never could have imagined…

 

When she came, Katie bit harshly into Jessa’s collarbone, making Jessa whimper with pleasure.  As they rode down their high, Jessa whispered, “What’s the verdict?”

 

“Hmm?” Katie asked, still too overwhelmed to even think…

 

“What’s the verdict on testing your hypothesis?  Where you right, or do you need to get back to the drawing board?”  


It was said very matter-of-factly, and something about the tone made Katie wonder if Jessa was far more perceptive than she had given her credit for.

 

They were gasping, faces bright red and Katie couldn’t help but feel a sickening nausea permeate her.  It seemed to be coming from everywhere.  She couldn’t have feelings for Takashi; she couldn’t, she has a girlfriend, she’s…

 

Except Katie withdrew her hand and let Jessa’s dress drop.  Katie looked at her friend, really looked at her, and whispered, “It’s confirmed.”

 

Sighing, Jessa leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath.  “Alright, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked what I've got so far! I've got to do some editing and planning but here is the beginning. If you like what you see don't forget to drop a kudos or a comment, because feedback keeps me motivated<3


	4. The Ties That Bind Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro, Keith, and Katie are rewarded medals for their mission. Later, the Voltron gang gets rowdy, and Shiro admits why he was in the area when the beacon went off

Back at the party, Katie and Jessa were talking and laughing with Lance, Keith and Hunk.  They weren’t touching, and Katie felt the chilly air between them.  She wished there was something she could say, some way she could fix it, but… she had to do what she needed to do.

 

Shiro came over multiple times, but stayed far away from Jessa and Katie, preferring to hover between Lance and Keith, who were yelling at each other yet again about…

 

“In the final battle against the Galra who was the one who shot the bomb from over a mile away and ended the war?”

 

Keith was livid.  “Who was the one who flew behind enemy lines to transport said bomb!”

 

Lance shrugged, sipping his drink.  “I’m just saying, I ended the war.”

 

The red paladin was turning very literally into the red paladin, and Shiro held his collar back as he tried to get at a grinning Lance.

 

At some point the King had stood on a small podium and presented Keith, Shiro, Jessa and Katie each a traditional medal of honor.  A few court ladies painted victory marks on their faces, and the whole congregation clapped.

 

The feast was next.  As Katie was eating, she saw a tiny bit of sauce fall onto Shiro’s hand, and she could barely resist the urge to lap it off with her tongue, which is definitely a new feeling for her.  She’d never desired this before, it’s a completely new sensation, and truth be told it was minorly alarming…

 

After the feast everyone went back up to Lance’s room to continue their own little mini-party.  They had found the equivalent of Greedonite booze and were passing around a bottle, talking about their favorite Voltron memories.  

 

Jessa sat and watched with rapt attention.  Though Jessa and Katie didn’t meet until after the war, they were both extremely instrumental in ending the reign of the Galra.  Jessa was in charge of leading ground troops on neutral territories that the Galra were trying to overtake, including Greedon and other smaller outer systems.

 

Keith and Katie were sitting back to back, each with a glass full of water and looking rather dour.

 

“What’s got your panties in a twist?” Lance slurred, pointing between the two of them.

 

They looked at each other before Keith muttered, “Too much socialization for one day.”

 

As if in explanation, Katie held up her water to drink to his announcement, and Hunk laughed.

 

“They were never exactly… social,” Hunk points out, and Lance rolls his eyes.

 

“We practically mind melded together for years!  You’d think they’d be happy to at least see us again.”

 

Keith snorted.  “Like I’d ever be happy to see you…”

 

At that, Lance actually sniffed.  “Wow, that actually kind of hurts…”

 

Everyone was blinking at him.  “That actually hurt your feelings?”  


“Guess it has been a while,” Keith said, suddenly throwing Lance a forced grin.  “I didn’t mean to, buddy.  I did miss you.”

 

At that, Lance actually started to cry.  He openly bawled, and Hunk had to comfort him.  Shiro looked lost as Lance clung onto him.

 

“I missed you too, Shiro!  We’ve all been worried since you haven’t been aging and we only see you a few times a year…”

 

The words were tumbling out like vomit, and everyone in the room tensed up, trying to send clear signals to drunk Lance not to talk about it, but here they were.  Shiro looked around the room analytically, at everyone except Jessa, who was pointedly avoiding eye contact.

 

“You all figured it out,” Shiro stated slowly.

 

“I mean, you look exactly the same and it’s been years since we first formed Voltron,” Hunk interjected, and Lance suddenly realized what he’d said out loud.

 

“We also figured out that you’re hunting down Haggar to get answers,” Keith narrowed his eyes.  “That’s why you were here, right?  To get Pidge to help you track her down?”  


All the other reasons that Shiro had for being near Katie popped in her head like overstretched helium balloons: of course he needed her technical skills.  Of course he wasn’t looking to spend time with her or see her for a social call.  That’s just silly.

 

Jessa met Katie’s eyes and then quickly looked away, blushing.

 

Shiro stood up.  “I don’t need your permission to do this.”

 

“I just don’t get it, man, why are you upset?  You get to live forever,” Hunk looked extremely confused, and he sloshed a bit of alcohol with his explanation.   

 

“It’s… not that.”

 

“What, then?” Katie snapped, and Shiro looked her dead in the eyes now.

 

“If I don’t age, I’m going to have to watch all of you die.  You will die slow painful deaths while I watch from the sidelines like a monument to freaky Galra experiments.”

 

It was quiet.  Keith finished his water and placed his cup down, making the only noise in the room.  Then…

 

“Takashi, did you want me to take a look at you?”

 

Katie’s voice was soft as she went to stand over Shiro on the bed, looking quizzical.

 

Sighing, Shiro closed his eyes.  “I… yes.  I think you’re the only one I can trust with this.”

 

Shiro wasn’t intimating that he didn’t trust the rest of the team; rather, he was hinting that Katie was the only technical expert he trusted.

 

They didn’t notice, but as the group started leaning closer, eventually sitting basically right on top of each other, Jessa fled from the room and out of sight.

  


***

  


When Katie and Jessa got in the copilot seats the next day, and Shiro climbed in the back, they waved good-bye to Keith, Hunk, and Lance on the ground.

 

Soon they were flying back to the research base, and Katie’s brain was straight up malfunctioning.  She couldn’t wrap her brain around the miscalculation that was her feelings for Shiro.  How could she be so blind?  And… what was she supposed to _do_ about it now?

 

When they landed on the research base, Jessa hugged Katie goodbye, and whispered, “maybe you should get in one more test of your hypothesis, but with another subject.”

 

Katie smiled, feeling emotion well up in her.  “I’m sorry…”

 

“... I know.  We’re friends first, right?” Jessa gave her a tight squeeze, then waved good-bye to Shiro and starting walking back to her bunker.

 

The moon research base had the main lab area and numerous small bunkers spread out around it, housing the numerous different alien species participating in the wormhole research.  As Katie designed them, she got her pick of which of the bunkers was hers, and she was very happy with her choice.

 

It was very close to the lab, and it had a digital display roof showing the constellations as you can see from her home on earth.  When she looked up at the sky, she knew she saw the same stars that her mother did, and with all the distance that one fact helps lull her to sleep on the roughest nights.

 

“I have a guest room in the basement,” Katie knocked on a door, “My room is kind of that loft-ish thing up there, so just let me know when you walk in so I’m not, like, naked?”

 

The statement/question/thing hung in the air awkwardly, and Katie found herself shuffling over to the fridge.  

 

“We get prepackaged stuff delivered, and delivery is usually every ten quintants, and I’m pretty sure we’re up for delivery soon because the fridge is… sparse.”

 

Shiro nodded, fidgeting uncomfortably.  Katie was 100% sure that Shiro didn’t even know how to fidget.  Normally he commanded a room, but right now he looked confused and a little nervous.

 

“Takashi?”

 

“I… I’m sorry,” Shiro deflated, falling back onto the couch and putting his head in his hands.  “I didn’t mean to drop all of my problems onto you like this.”

 

_I think you’re the only one I can trust with this._

 

The words played over in Katie’s head, and she kneeled down in front of Shiro, tipping his chin up.  “Hey,” her eyebrows furrowed, “We’re supposed to look out for each other, right?  That’s why we have the beacons and that’s why we stay in touch.  Voltron is forever, and so is our bond.  You’re so important to me, Takashi.”

 

Shiro nodded, a small smile lighting up his face.  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you grew up a lot in the last five years.”

 

They saw each other on the occasional holidays or crises, but Katie was sure that she hasn’t been alone like this with Shiro since the war ended.

 

The comment reminded her of what happened with Jessa earlier, so she drew herself up.  “I’m not the little kid you promised Matt to protect, anymore.”

 

“No, you’re not,” Shiro agreed, and his breath caught as Katie leaned in closer to his space, kneeling between his knees.

 

“We’ll figure out what’s going on with you.  I promise,” she whispered, fingers coming up to touch his face gently.  

 


	5. The Void You Left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Katie start researching what Haggar did to Shiro, and spend some quality time together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient with me, lovelies<3

Shiro’s lips parted in surprise, but he still leaned into the touch.  Katie was lost in the moment, wanting to savor how close he was letting her.  Takashi Shirogane didn’t let people in close.

 

As soon as it started, the moment was over.  Katie got up and went to the fridge to try to make dinner out of leftovers, and Shiro went about making himself at home in the guest room.  They were happily quiet, the only sound the rushing of leaves (a recording she received from Matt upon his return to earth, so she could play it and remember where she came from).

 

When Shiro came up in lounge clothes for dinner, Katie couldn’t help but feel spotlighted.  What they were doing was so… domestic. He offered to set the table, she divvied up the food, and soon they were eating across from each other.

 

“I don’t think I know what research you are doing now,” Shiro admitted when he finished his dinner.  He started cleaning up the table without Katie having to say anything, which was such a distinctly _Shiro_ thing to do.

 

Katie started pushing her vegetables around her plate.  “I’m working on forming a new wormholing material that can interface with any living energy, not just Altean.  Every species has a distinct energy signature, and I’m trying to make the it so that anyone can use the controls.  Allura is just one person, and she won’t live forever,” Katie stopped and looked up at that, but Shiro ignored the comment, setting to washing the dishes.

 

It was… strange.  Katie continued to talk about her research, until Shiro sat down next to her and stabbed the peppers she was rolling around with her fork.

 

“Open up,” Shiro chided, and Katie did automatically, making her eyes widen and face blush.  When she clamped her mouth over the peppers, she averted her eyes from his piercing stare.

 

It was always so… easy with Shiro.  Katie had never trusted anyone so completely, and her heart was hammering in her chest as he nodded.

 

“Good.  You can’t survive on just meat, carnivore,” Shiro bonked her on the head, making her feel like a child.

 

They finished cleaning up, but that feeling still lingered: child.  To Shiro, would she always be a little kid? Shiro hadn’t aged a day in six years, but still maybe he could feel it in his bones, the passing of time a weight on his heart instead of his body.

 

“Did I do something?”

 

Shiro had been reading quietly next to Katie, who was using a holoscreen to do some work on her interface project.

 

When he interrupted, she sighed outwardly.  She hated being interrupted like this, especially with things of this nature.  Her science time was her time to make sense of the world, not make it more confusing.

 

“Give me twenty minutes to finish what I’m doing,” she mumbled, checking over some of her coding and looking at some notes her fellow researchers had left for her in the week she had been gone.

 

After a little while, she had no more notes, and no more excuses.

 

She turned the holoscreen off, and it’s incessant buzzing cleared from the room, leaving it eerily quiet.

 

“I’m sorry if I’ve seen weird.  I just… I feel like you still baby me.”

 

Shiro blinked, muttering, “I don’t…”

 

She held up her hand.  “How old am I?”

 

“Twenty-one,” Shiro answered automatically, and Katie smiled.

 

“You treat me like I’m still fifteen.  You might not have aged, but I have. I grew up and I need you to respect me as a fellow adult if we’re going to work together to figure out what’s going on with you.  Partners?”

 

She held out her calloused hand for him to grasp.  Both of them had soldier hands, battle-worn skin that was tough and scarred over.

 

He hesitated for a moment, then seemed to smile and say, “Yeah.  Partners. I might forget sometimes, though. It’s alright to put me in my place if that happens.”

 

Katie rolled her eyes.  “I can’t _wait._ ”

  


***

  


The next day in the lab, Shiro was laying down so that Pidge could take a body scan of him.  Then, she drew some blood, recorded blood pressure, heart rate, breathing. She took a few cell samples from different parts of his body, and a few strands of hair to test his DNA.

 

When she finished collecting her samples, she nodded to Shiro.  “I need to do a physical examination while you’re here. Could you strip down to just your underwear?”

 

Shiro didn’t even flinch even though Katie was slowly turning into a tomato the longer they waited.  Shiro shed his shirt and pants, standing in only his tight boxer briefs and nothing else.

 

Katie had seem Shiro naked like this before, but never with the intention of searching him.  She guided her gloved fingers over him, taking in each blood vessel and muscle and scar, categorizing them and marking them on her computer.  When she got to his robotic arm, he said, “I know it’s scarred…”

 

“I’ve seen it before,” Katie reassured, gently guiding her fingers over the skin.  She noted areas of more severe scar tissue, and noticed that there seemed to be hardware underneath his skin above the arm.

 

Quickly she pulled up the image of his scan, and gulped, zooming in.

 

The arm wasn’t the only part of him that was electronic.  His entire skeleton was littered with tiny parts whirring and fortifying it.  

 

“How does it look, doc?”  


Katie gulped, tucking light brown hair behind her ear.  “It looks like the work done to you was much more extensive than we originally feared.”

 

She turned the screen towards him, and his fingers immediately came to his skin, like he could reach in and grab the parts of him that were artificial.  “This is… I don’t remember them doing all of this…”

 

Katie’s lips formed into a thin line as she assessed the image. “I’m going to run some tests.  You head back to my place, make yourself comfortable.”

 

Shiro raised his eyebrow.  “Are you sure you’ll be okay alone?”

 

Blinking, Katie asked, “...didn’t we live together at some point?  You know I prefer to be by myself.”

 

A warm smile came from Shiro.  “Right, I’m sorry. I’ll make dinner.  Be home by seven?”  


The familiar sound of it, the way her mother would request her father to come home before dinner, was extremely jarring, and Katie found herself gawking at Shiro for a few more minutes before blushing and making herself busy.  

  


***

  


Takashi Shirogane was made out of stardust.

 

Well, everyone was made out of stardust.  Everything in the known world was created by random chemical interactions of atoms from the big bang.  However, each thing had a different configuration of stardust, a specific way that their being was formed instead of a tomato or a rock.

 

Takashi Shirogane was riddled with metallic parts, but not just from any metal in the galaxy.

 

This metal, based off the chip that Katie had spent the better part of the day running a spectrometer over, was the same metal as their lions.

 

The sun doesn’t set on the moon they are on, nor does it ever rise.  There’s just a red permanent haze from the reflection of the main planet onto the moon.  Which is why when Katie came into her house, and saw that Shiro was finishing setting the table, she was surprised.  

 

“Wait, what…”

 

He looked up, smiling at her.  “Welcome back. I made a casserole with what was in the refrigerator.”

 

The fear was weighing over her head as they ate, and while they were cleaning up the kitchen, Katie snagged Shiro by the wrist.

 

“I don’t think you’re going to age at all, Shiro.”

 

The revelation didn’t even make him flinch.  He just carefully set the plate he was holding down.  “What gave it away?”

 

“You’ve got the same materials the lions are made out of all throughout your body.  They’re virtually impervious, and I would venture to say that you’re impervious in those spots, too.”

 

The rushing of wind in the leaves above them made Katie place her hand gently over his.  “We can find her, Takeshi, we can figure out how to reverse this…”

 

Shiro nodded, but Katie could already tell that he was a million light years away from her.

  


***

  


When Shiro snuck out of Katie’s house the next day, he got into a tiny pod he’d borrowed from the main lab.  He threw his bag of belongings in, and was just about to turn the engine over when movement on the top of the vehicle made Shiro pop his head out curiously.

 

Katie was perched atop the vessel, looking furious.

 

“What, you were just going to leave, then?”  


“Get off, Pidge.”

 

“Oh wow, you’re using that name.  Things must be serious.”

 

“I said _get off_ Pidge!”

 

Her eyes gazed back at his, determined.  “Since when did I become the mature one in this situation?”

 

She was already dressed for the day, so she must have known this was coming.  

 

“How’d you…”

 

“You only get really quiet like that when you’re plotting something.  When you clammed up last night I knew you were going to leave. I just didn’t realize that meant leaving without even giving me a note or explanation.”

 

Shiro ran his metal fingers through his white hair, pulling his bag off the pod and marching back towards the house.  

 

"You're not getting away that easily," Katie huffed, watching as Shiro retreated from her sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to see more, like, subscribe, comment, send me a fire message, or telepathically communicate it. You might make my whole day :D


	6. This Glass That Shatters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge does her best to keep Shiro from running off while also trying to uncover the truth about his modifications.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello!
> 
> After doing an outline based off the progression, I think this will be a few more than ten parts. I should have a better idea after I write the next few plot points.
> 
> As always, you are all lovely. I'm just happy to be here.
> 
> As usual, I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender

Katie found herself setting up alarms around her humble abode, which would alert her if anyone tried to leave the house or enter certain rooms.  Shiro wasn’t allowed to just waltz into her life, drop a huge bomb on her, then walk away. That simply wasn’t acceptable

 

She heard the alarm in the kitchen go off on her communicator, and she ran out towards the stairs to the loft in her t-shirt and panties, gun out and hair wild in every direction.

 

When she saw that it was just Shiro making eggs, she froze.  When he saw her state of dress, and his face was dusted with a blush that could probably cook the eggs a lot faster, Katie squeaked.  She stood up, dignified, and said in a shaky voice, “Well, carry on.”

 

After going back to her room and changing, combing her hair back gently, she came back downstairs just in time for Shiro to put scrambled eggs on her plate.

 

“I’m just confused how they got eggs so similar to a chicken’s,” Katie marveled, and Shiro shrugged, sitting down across from her.  They ate in relative silence for a while.

 

Then, Shiro stated, “You can’t keep me from leaving forever.”

 

“How old are you?” Katie accused, pointing her fork at him viciously.  “You sound like a bratty teenager right now.”

 

It took a moment for Katie to catch her mistake with mentioning his age, and she grumbled out an apology, stuffing her face with more eggs.

 

“No need to apologize.  I just need to remind you that despite my age, I’m an adult.  I can make decisions for myself, and I’m going to go after Haggar to see if she can reverse this.”

 

Biting her lip, Katie countered, “Why are you trying to age, again?”

 

A dark look passed over Shiro’s face, but it left as quickly as it came.

 

Katie imagined it for a second: her growing old, living her whole life while Shiro looked exactly the same.  Would he visit her in a nursing home while he was still so spry? Were there any such things as nursing homes on other planets, or would Shiro have to come visit Earth to see all of them?  Would all of them even make it to old age, given the hazardous careers they’d been relegated to?

 

Suddenly Shiro’s urgency became far more real to Katie.

 

She spent most of her time at her place.  Most of her work she could do remotely, and she usually only went in to use some of the fancier equipment.  However, she’d been getting a coworker to help her out in exchange for her to do some private investigating into their wife’s life online while he was away at the research base.

 

A lot of it was just data compiling and running programs, so when her computer was doing most of that work for her, she was spending time trying to piece together the information she’d gathered from Shiro’s tests.

 

All in all, she had three discoveries of note.

 

One, Shiro has a lot of hardware plugged into his central nervous system, making the prosthetic such good quality and making it virtually indistinguishable from his other limbs

 

Two, the materials used were the same as their lions, derived from the strange meteor

 

Three, he had an enormous amount of scar tissue on his abdomen.  Originally Katie thought it was from the arena he fought in, but after more carefully scanning over the images she realized that the cuts were precise, almost… surgical.  Someone had cut him up and observed the pieces just for show.

 

She kept that discovery to herself.  

 

However, it was becoming abundantly clear that the clues to helping them reverse what was done to him were more likely locked up in his head than in his cells.  

 

Katie hated dealing with people.  If she could help it, she’d live on a barren planet by herself with some decent materials to make gadgets and a vibrator or two.  When the realization came that she would have to actually talk to Shiro about his immensely heavy trauma background, she found herself on her roof instead, staring over the striped red-and-purple horizon, trying to remember how it was one even broached serious subjects with people.

 

There was a time in her life when she dealt with interpersonal issues frequently and effectively, but her lab job had pretty effectively isolated her.

 

Now as she sat on the roof and heard an alarm go off downstairs, she looked tiredly as Shiro, bag in hand, was trying to sneak to his escape pod.

 

At this point he knew he was going to be caught, right?  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results.  What does trying it twenty times in six days mean?

 

She sent one of her drones over to lock the escape pod down, and Shiro banged his metal fist over and over on the door, screaming and cursing and picking up rocks and throwing them.  Truthfully, Shiro was the one acting like a child, here.

 

All of a sudden, Katie wondered if she should wait a few years to fix the problem.  Wait until she was older than Shiro to help reverse this, so that she can feel the satisfaction of being the older one.

 

Yeah, that sounded hilarious.

 

Suddenly, Shiro looked around him wildly, and caught Katie sitting on the roof, staring at her with a meaningful expression.

 

Katie ignored it and nibbled on some candy.

 

***

 

It was while Katie was analyzing some of the scar tissue from the experiments on him when she asked, “So, when did they have you chained up?”

 

She’d been trying to broach the topic, and though this was a very sad attempt, she still made the concerted effort.  That counts for something, right? Shiro’s eyes drilled into hers from across the living room, book falling into his lap.

 

“I didn’t realize there was still damage,” Shiro said softly, already so far away.

 

Katie turned the screen around to show Shiro his left wrist, the one that was still his.  The MRI showed significant scar tissue and there were clear hairline fractures that had never healed right.

 

He unconsciously touched his wrist, like he could soothe away the pain from so long ago.  “It was between fights when I was first brought to the arena. Before I started winning enough to be able to afford nicer accommodations,” Shiro’s prosthetic hand balled into a fist.  “They didn’t want us running away. That’s where they kept us if we were new, because otherwise the new people would know not to fight. So many of them died. If they realized that the slave wasn’t meant for the arena, and if they survived, they sent them away.  If you were a real contender, then you could buy your way into a nicer room, or for food that didn’t make you vomit…” Shiro’s eyes closed suddenly, his nose wrinkling in disgust.

 

Katie was taking surreptitious notes, using a talk to text application.  She wanted to be able to comb through the story later, run it in her mind until some of her discoveries started blending in with his narration.

 

“That’s…”

 

“Your brother was one of the survivors they shipped off,” Shiro said softly, but Katie already knew most of this part of the story.

 

“When did they start the experiments?”

 

Eyes closed, Shiro looked younger suddenly.  “When I started taking too much damage from the fights.  I was winning against opponents much bigger and better than me, and the crowd loved me.  But… I was starting to get severe damage. They would knock me out and I’d wake up with stitches and soreness and no memory of how it happened.  Then, of course, the fight came where I lost my arm.”

 

Without realizing it, Katie had reached out to stroke Shiro’s arm, and he looked down at her hand, a mixture of emotions there.

 

“I had already won, but the competitor was a sore loser.  He got back up and chopped off the arm before being tranquilized.  There were days missing from my memory, then. The only thing that I remember was pain and the smell of blood.”

 

Katie’s fingers froze on his arm, feeling a shiver run through her.  She imagined having that much control taken away, and it made her sick.

 

“When I woke up the prosthetic was still a little new.  I had to work on getting my mind accustomed to it, and eventually they threw me right back into the ring.”

 

“That’s…" her voice trailed off, thoughtful, ..."okay.  I think I need to start looking at the scans like they’re a patch job, not like they’re enhancements,” Katie was already combing through the information she had gathered from her computer.  

 

Shiro cleared his throat, and she looked up, surprised.

 

Her hand was still on his arm, and suddenly her tiny calloused fingers looked very delicate against the harsh metal.

 

“Oh,” she said dazedly, and for a moment she didn’t move, because with all of the tests she’d thought to run on Shiro, she hadn’t thought to just…. touch him.

 

There was a lot to report as her fingers traced over the edges and grooves.  It was warm, just like a real arm would be, like it was emitting it’s own body heat.  The joint was somehow naturally lubricated, and she paused there for a moment, rotating the arm while watching it carefully, not hearing any sign of damage or squeaking.

 

For the first time in years, Katie really looked at this extension of Shiro, and realized… “beautiful,” she praised, wondering how in a million years someone could engineer something so simple yet useful? She had to meet the designer.  She had to ask them so many questions, find out the inner workings, maybe reverse engineer it so that she could replicate the mechanisms to help amputees…

 

... she had to…

 

She remembered with a start that she was still touching Shiro, and she tapped the metal lightly.

 

“Can you feel that, Takashi?”

 

His cheeks were a little red, as he pointed towards where his arm joined his body.  “I can feel the reverberations, but I can’t feel the touch on my arm.”

 

Huh, so it was only a one-way connection.  She wondered if others like Shiro existed in the world, if there were other people just as traumatized that had version 1, 2, and 5.5 of this exact design

 

“That’s it!” Katie squeaked, slapping her hand onto Shiro’s thigh.  “That’s how we track her down! We have to find other experiments similar to this.  She wouldn’t have only made one arm for one person, there would be different stages, and levels of success, and… there have to be more like you, right?”

 

His eyes were widening, and he nodded vigorously.  “Yeah, there were definitely other prisoners who had prosthetics as well.”

 

“That’s where we start, then,” she jumped up giddily, running towards her large computer that was connected to the intergalactic inter communication hub.

 

Shiro was frozen on the spot, staring at Katie’s back as she quickly and excitedly clicked around and typed vigorously.  

 

He closed his fist, caressing the places she’d run her hands over, wishing that she hadn’t left him on the couch, alone.  Wishing she was still here. Wishing…

 

Wishing doesn’t do much, in the grand scheme of things

 

***

 

At two in the morning, in the dim, flickering lights of the living room, Katie was still typing and searching on her computer.  Her eyes were bruised with lack of sleep, and she kept stretching her neck in an attempt to keep going.

 

Shiro had been woken up by a nightmare, and went to get himself a cup of water when he found her like this.  He yawned, picking up a blanket off the couch and draping it over her shoulders. As he laid it down, her fingers brushed his for a second; just a second.

 

It felt like he was electrocuted; her touch on his real hand felt like fire in his belly.

 

“Go to sleep, Katie,” Shiro whispered, grasping gently at her shoulder.  “This can wait.”

 

“Five more minutes,” she insisted groggily, “I just have to finish on this lead,” she continued clicking around, and Shiro sighed, settling on the couch next to her, looking at what she was working on.

 

It was a drafter message to numerous members of leadership within the Voltron Alliance, asking about prisoners that they might have liberated who had modifications done to them while in captivity.  It was signed Katie Holt, Senior Ambassador for the Voltron Alliance, with a green seal and signature underneath.

 

As she finished signing, she clicked her tablet off, placing it onto the table in front of her, swaying dangerously until she settled onto Shiro’s shoulder.

 

“Hey, are you falling asleep on me?” he whispered fondly, the fire in his belly settling into something low and rumbling, even content.  

 

“Too tired, can’t go on, just leave me behind” she grumbled, pulling up her legs and cuddling against his human arm harder.

 

Chuckling, Shiro nudged her gently, but she just whispered breathily, “Takashi…”

 

His breath caught, but he nudged her up again, quickly lifting her up into his arms.

 

She was all elbows and knobbly knees, hair pulled back into a high ponytail and brushing against his shoulder as he carried her up to the loft.  She kept mumbling things under her breath, dead asleep. At some point her fingers dug into Shiro’s shirt, saying so clearly that it made him stop dead in his tracks:

 

“You can’t leave me again.”

 

That night, as he gently tucked her in and brushed her lion’s mane away from her forehead, taking off her glasses and placing them on her nightstand, he made an important decision.

 

“Don’t worry, Katie, I’m not going anywhere.”

 

A tiny smile graced her lips, and she snuggled further into the sheets, face falling into peaceful slumber moments later.

 

As silently as possible he slipped back downstairs to his room, and realized with a start that everything had changed, suddenly and irreversible.  Somehow his priority to discover about his past experimentation and change his fate was knocked off course, and he found himself orbiting around his concern for one badass scientist.

 

He stayed up very late that night, trying to figure out when his feelings for Katie had changed.  Was it slow, or was it all at once? He couldn’t honestly remember when his protective affection changed to interest and admiration.  Maybe it was beyond his control, or maybe it was just due to the way she’d changed over the years.

 

She had a girlfriend, though.  She was happy.

 

Sighing, Shiro turned over.  Nothing could happen, anyway.  It wasn’t his concern.

 

As she fell asleep, his fingers burned where she had touched him, and he couldn’t help but feel himself grow warm from the memory.

 

He was truly screwed, then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also wrote a Klance fic because smuff, so if you're into that check out "I See Stars When I'm With You"
> 
> I'm kind of really excited for this fic to play out the way I'm picturing it to. V PUMPED and I hope you are too<3


	7. The Calm Before...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Shiro finds out something about Katie, his entire perspective is altered. Also, a lead brings our heroes out on an adventure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup.
> 
> I’ve kind of run away with this idea. I have no clue how long it’s going to be now- I keep surprising myself with plot twists and revelations. Being a writer is hella cool like that.
> 
> Otherwise, thank you to my regular readers<3 Your support means the world to me, and I couldn’t do it without you. If you know any other secret Shidge shippers, send them our way. Our group is small but mighty, not unlike Pidge herself.
> 
> As usual, I do not own Voltron

Katie’s dream was… the best way to put it would be… steamy.

 

She felt Shiro’s hands tighten on her in the dream, and she was seated in his lap, riding him and using his shoulders to leverage herself up and down.  It felt like some part of her that was aching to be filled had finally gotten what it needed, like there was some deep down part of her that had been desperate for this without her even knowing.

 

“Fuck, Takashi,” she gasped out, feeling the sweat start to drip down her back.  She moaned deliciously, closing her eyes at the sensation.

 

It was a good dream, all things considered.

 

***

 

Shiro heard his name as he was checking his tablet for updates from the Voltron Alliance.  They wanted him to attend a peace accords between two warring colonies, but then he snapped out of it, turning his tablet off and responding to the call.  He ascended the stairs...

 

When he hit her landing, he froze.

 

Katie’s panties were halfway down her thigh, fingers dug deep inside of her.  Her cheeks were a bright red, and she moaned deliciously then, rolling her hips on her fingers.

 

Her breathing was labored, hair sticking to her cheeks as Shiro started short circuiting.

 

She was stretching herself open, three fingers deep.  Her cunt and thighs were pink and wet with a clear sticky substance, and just when Shiro thought it couldn’t get any worse…

 

“Ah, Takashi, right there,” her voice was pitched, chasing down something.  Maybe an orgasm, but Shiro didn’t have time for that before he turned around and sprinted down into his room.

 

He was monstrously hard, quickly shedding his day pants and taking himself in between his calloused fingers.  Fleetingly, he wished he’d had some of what was dripping down Katie’s fingers…

 

Falling to his knees on the floor, he gripped the edge of his bed, mind swirling with the image of Katie trapped just like that underneath him, making her make those moans, watching her writhe and knowing that it was all because of him.  He started smearing the precome dripping down from his slit, trying to get some relief from the aggressive rubbing, but he couldn’t stop, now. He was too close, already. It didn’t take long before he was coming, thick ropes wrapping around his hand and wrist and leaking onto the tile floor beneath him.

 

When he caught his breath, panic started to set in.

 

Did he just… masturbate from watching Katie masturbate?  What was she doing, anyway? Was she asleep, or awake? Did she know he was up there, or not?

 

Paralyzed with fear, eventually he gained the capabilities to stand up and clean himself and the floor up, but he couldn’t open the door and go back out there.  What if she heard him? What explanation would he have?

 

Footsteps came down the stairs and wandered around, probably searching for him or collecting all her stuff to check in at the lab.  His breathing was still labored until he heard the front door chime, and even then he waited until he was sure that she was gone before coming out.

 

Possessed, he couldn’t stop himself from trudging up the stairs, stopping when he got to the top of the landing.

 

It still smelled musty in there, the thick, heady scent of sex permeated in the air.  Shiro walked towards the bed, could smell it even more here, the faint aroma making Shiro get hard again.

 

Frustrated, he sprinted down the stairs, determined not to touch himself again.  He did sit ups and push ups until his abs were so sore he couldn’t even think about what had transpired.

 

***

 

Later that afternoon, a knock came at the door, and Shiro wandered over to it, freshly showered with his tank top half on.  

 

Opening it, he saw with a start that it was Jessa.

 

“Oh, hey…” he started, but Jessa just hurried past him into the house.

 

“Katie hasn’t been coming to work.  I just wanted to make sure she was okay.”

 

The hard press of her lips was unnerving.  

 

“She’s been working from home,” Shiro said slowly, taking a moment to take in Jessa’s lack of makeup, her messy braid, her angry frown.  “I’m sure she would have told you.”

 

Chuckling, Jessa pressed her thumb and forefinger against the bridge of her nose, saying calmly, “I was just worried about her.  Don’t tell her I came by, I’ll just look pathetic…”

 

Shiro caught her hand, confusion clear on all of his features.  His white hair was dripping still, eyes wide in worry. “Hey, are you… okay?”

 

Biting her lip, she groaned, putting her head in her hands. Some of her dark hair fell out of her braid and framed her face attractively.  She seemed to be searching in Shiro’s eyes for something, but came up blank and visibly deflated.

 

“Yeah, I guess,” she huffed, tugging her hand gently away from Shiro’s.  “I just… miss her, you know?”

 

Shiro blinked stupidly, and his confusion made her eyes widen.

 

“She… she didn’t tell you that we broke up, did she?”

 

At a loss, Shiro felt himself flare with anger.  Katie should have told him that this happened. They could have talked out her feelings on the roof, or gone on a trip to get away from her ex for a while.  Instead, he was the last to know.

 

At his silence, Jessa straightened up.  “Figures. When she comes back, tell her to at least message me that she’s okay?  I still care, even if we’re not together.”

 

“I’ll be sure to tell her,” Shiro said confidently, and Jessa left the apartment, leaving Shiro with a thousand questions and a tiny, flickering flame of hope.

 

***

 

When Katie got home, she meandered over to her tablet, plugging in the data she’d collected.  When she reached the device, though ,she dropped her backpack and yelled, “Shiro! We have a lead!”

 

For a moment he forgot all that happened earlier, and raced out of his room to her, glancing over her shoulder until his memory caught up to him.  They were so… close, physically. Shiro was already sweating, trying to control himself.

 

“Another prisoner that’s in the Magar Colony right now is seeking medical help from a high priestess.  She’s thinking that he was an experiment, too,” Katie pulled up the images with it, of the electronics hooked up to the central nervous system of the creature in question.  

 

When Katie was done reading she put her tablet down, rushing up the stairs.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

Turning around, she blinked, not quite catching his tone.  “To… go get dressed…” Katie said slowly.

 

Flustered, Shiro stuttered, “I know that, but why are we going to talk to them now?”

 

“Would you rather wait until tomorrow?” she bit out, and Shiro felt that cut to the bone.  “I was planning on getting some answers for you sometime soon.”

 

Plastering a resolute grimace on his face, Shiro nodded to her.  “Take the lead captain.”

 

***

 

A question had been bothering him the whole ride that they’ve been gliding closer and closer to the Magar Colony, a five hour hyperspeed jump and then two of local travel. They both played their favorite music, switching off every song.  It was so easy for the two of them to fall back into step.  But he still wondered... whether Katie remembered or not.

 

“Look at this,” Katie said over a granola bar, shoving the tablet in front of Shiro’s face, “He looks like an earlier model.  Some of the internal hardware is starting to break down.”

 

Earlier model.  Breaking down. Is that what Shiro would do?  Would he spin and weave his life until a ripe old age claimed him, or would he last forever in his unchangeable body?  Instead of dying, would he break down and be put out of service, instead? There were the vital questions that needed to be asked.

 

They made Shiro nauseous, just thinking about it.  

 

When they reached the ground, there was a rainbow of color there to greet them.  The Magar were a people who were devout, believing that you should do everything in your power to increase the happiness of those around you.  That included listening to happy music, wearing bright colors, and smiling almost constantly. To be frank, they were a touch disturbing, but they were friendly and allies, so Shiro tried not to think too much into it.

 

A woman with bright yellow feathers sticking out of her hair waved her golden clad arm, saying slowly and regally, “hello, my visitors!  I’m Agade, and I’m the leader of this particular settlement. I will be escorting you to the priestess with my court.”

 

Katie looked left and right, her nose crinkling in distaste.  “Is this whole group… your court?”

 

“Yes!” She intoned enthusiastically, the long necks of the Magar snapping to attention.  “I learned young that the way to keep yourself from despair is to surround yourself with the finest and brightest company.”

 

The two paladins glanced at each other, wordlessly communicating their mild annoyance.  

 

“So… how long does it take to move the court?”

 

Agade touched her chin thoughtfully, pondering the question.  “It shouldn’t take more than a couple garbs, right?”

 

Garbs were an unknown unit of time to the two of them, but Shiro quickly played the peaceful leader, saying, “we would be honored for your court to escort us to the high priestess,” that Katie cut in with “quickly and efficiently.”

 

The sunspot of a woman chuckled good-naturedly.  “That’s the spirit!”

 

They found themselves being brought into a nearby building where they were quickly fitted for local attire.  A few smiling men were working to get a bright floral shirt with pink pants and yellow shoes on the very perturbed man. Shiro felt like a preschooler, and not unlike preschoolers he was thinking about throwing a tantrum.

 

However, when he came out and saw who was waiting for him, his eyes widened and jaw dropped.

 

She had looked stunning at the celebration, but there she was with someone else, untouchable.  Now Katie stood with flowers and golden ribbon braided into her hair, with rainbow sparkling cheeks.  They’d put her in a stunning outfit, the top a bright orange satin crop top, and the bottom a high-low skirt with all the colors of the rainbow swirling around her legs and to the ground.

 

Blushing a bit when he couldn’t stop staring at her, Katie turned once, making the courtiers in the group giggle and gasp in excitement.

 

“I clean up nice, right?” She positively beamed, her unruly hair tucked neatly back in the braid, golden thread falling all the way to her knees.

 

“Y-yeah,” Shiro managed to stutter out, and she smiled at his outfit.

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear any colors other than black.  I thought you were allergic,” Katie teased, and Shiro let himself smile shyly.

 

“I guess I’m trying to just roll with what’s going on, and not question it too much,” Shiro prodded, lips quirked in amusement.

 

There was a low rumble, and two drummers were positioned at the front of the procession.  They quickly filed into a few vehicles that ran on something like solar power, and Shiro and Katie were pressed right up against each other in the main car.  It didn’t look unlike a party bus.  

 

Shiro felt like he was going to prom, not to meet someone who might hold the answers he’s been searching for.  Nervously, he stared out the window, but then felt a small hand on his forearm.

 

”We’ll figure this out, Takashi,” Katie said reassuringly, and though nothing had materially changed, Shiro felt a wave of relief overtake him 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about that voyeur scene, huh? Also, she was half awake/half asleep for questioning minds that want to know. However, sexsomnia is a real thing. I do a lot of weird research for my fics. 
> 
> Don’t forget to drop a kudos or comment if you enjoy this and want more! Feedback helps me determine whether I should continue fics or not. If you want more, let me know!
> 
> Also, if you like this, check out my other fics! I have a fun Klance fic that I’m working on a second chapter for right now. It isn’t going to be regularly updating like this one, but it’s a welcome change from the usual angst I write


	8. ... The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie and Shiro are taken to see the other experiment, and are horrified at what they find

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yo yo hey
> 
> I know for the most part where I’m going from here, and this thing is gonna have hella more content than originally planned. I’m stoked
> 
> Shout out to my regular readers! You guys are awesome. When you drop kudos and leave comments it means the world to me, so just keep on keeping on<3
> 
> This chapter deals with a little bit of darker content than normal. It’s got a little bit of battle and also sickness. If any of this is triggering for you, please seek help immediately.
> 
> As usual, I do not own Voltron

The party bus was overwhelmingly lavish, enough so that Shiro felt like he was brought back to the old days when planets would treat the visiting paladins like royalty.  He’d become more covert with his traveling anymore, so this was making him cringe.

 

On another note, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by how close Katie was.  The procession down the streets was as quick as the two drummers up front, and Shiro noticed Katie’s eyes widening as she took in the streets around her, marveling at the people.  They were all decked out in bright, obnoxious outfits, tall necks snapping towards the procession. They all seemed to be taking their time; they were talking to people they met on the street, complimenting each other’s outfits, sharing food that they were carrying around in bright drawstring bags.  Shiro felt himself marveling at her marveling, then quickly caught himself and looked the other way.

 

However, the magic only lasted for exactly 23 ½ minutes, by Shiro’s watch, before she was fidgeting, foot bouncing on the ball of her feet, asking, “so, how much longer?”

 

The driver guffawed loudly, clicking a button that made music filter through the back seat, and Katie just stared at him, looking like she was mentally trying to squeeze his head until it popped.

 

After the first hour she pulled out her communication piece, clicking it into her ear and moving her fingers around at what must be projecting in front of her eyes.  

 

For privacy purposes, Katie created the communicators to be holographic, but only projected onto the user’s field of vision.  To everyone else, it just looked like she was swatting at bugs, or perhaps having a particularly interactive hallucination. Regardless, she quickly got bored with that too, and soon the two of them were sitting pressed close together, and Shiro couldn’t help but remember what had happened with sharp and unrelenting clarity.  

 

The sounds that she was making were positively pornographic… no, he told himself sternly, focus on the present.  Focus on how she smells like mint and fresh turned earth, which was oddly comforting. Focus on how beautiful she looks, her mid section exposed and skirt coming up so high on her thighs…

 

Shiro was lost now, though, imagining running his fingers along her leg, sliding up until he was caressing her inner thigh, sliding his fingers against the tight fabric of whatever she had on, wiggling his fingers until she started making those sounds again…

 

Suddenly her tiny hand was waving in front of his face, bony wrists adorned with rainbow bangles.  

 

“Takashi” she whispered suddenly and insistently, making Shiro tense, hoping she didn’t notice that he was staring, “I don’t trust these people.”

 

“We looked it up when we got here.  That is the local leader, and they were able to give relevant details about the high priestess.”

 

Katie shook her head, narrowing her eyes pointedly.  They’d put some sort of green eyeliner on her, which made her hazel eyes pop brightly, only highlighting her suspicious expression.

 

After hour three, Katie was searching everywhere for some sort of button to open the window or the door, but the driver asked her calmly to please remain in her seat.

 

After hour four, the procession finally came to a rumbling halt.  A twitching Katie immediately went for the handle on the door, which she already knew didn’t open from the inside, but apparently she didn’t care.  Shiro waited patiently, but even he was about to jump out of his skin. Then one of the courtiers opened the door from the outside, and the two of them were out in a flash, looking rather disgruntled.

 

The huge temple they were in front of was draped in sunlight and sparkling, golden tapestries.  The procession was standing by the entrance, and the two of them looked at each other with impatience.

 

They quickly pressed past the people, standing right by the entrance to be temple with Agade, who was watching them with mild annoyance.  

 

Someone came outside to greet them.  They were wearing sheer blue robes with nothing on underneath, and if Shiro was curious about the kind of anatomy the Magar possessed, he had all the answers now.

 

They looked like very similar to a human on their body, but extremely… stretched out?  Long necks and long torsos giving way to willowy legs and their skin was pale but glimmering a delicate purple just beneath the surface.  

 

Katie blushed a little bit, but otherwise was still scowling.  “High priestess?”

 

She had a blue veil on, but she nodded her head.  She had odd designs tattooed on her face and torso, and upon closer inspection Shiro realized that it was writing.

 

“Come with me,” she motioned, and Agade’s procession started throwing glittering confetti in their direction.

 

Katie brushed it off irritably, and Shiro quickly thanked the leader with an apologetic smile.

 

They followed the priestess into the gaping halls of the temple, strung with glittering multicolored jewels and beads, with gorgeous tiles creating a lovely mosaic on the ground stretching before them.  Katie was wearing a pair of comfortable looking sandals that clicked as she stepped. Shiro was doing his best to be a gentleman and not look at the priestess from behind, but he found himself staring at the words in the unfamiliar text, wondering what they said, what message they conveyed.

 

However, he was also distracted by the way Katie’s skirt flew behind her like a cape, or wings of a tropical bird.  Altogether, he really wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, which explains why he didn’t realize that they’d stepped into an infirmary until he heard someone throwing up into a bed pan.

 

His body was thrumming with nerves as they moved down the lines of beds of sick people.  The high priestess spoke softly to a few nurses who were all in similar garb, which was extremely confusing to Shiro.

 

When they reached the end of the hall, she beckoned behind a hanging tapestry that looked like the sky at sunset, revealing a patient bed.

 

When they walked in, the first thing they noticed was the smell.

 

It smelled like rot and engine oil.  The high priestess spoke quietly to the nurse on there, who bowed and left.

 

“I know our outfits must confuse you, but one of the most rampant illnesses among our people show a very visible rash somewhere on your skin.  By wearing these we’re proving that we don’t have it and that we aren’t hiding it.”

 

Shiro still was confused how that kept the hospital sanitary, but he decided to table it, instead taking in the man on the bed.

 

It was an extremely strange sensation to look at him.  He was young, probably not even fifteen, but he also looked… like he was one hundred.  His eyes were tired, his face set like he’d seen all the worst of the world in his time here.  He would compare him to what he thought a ghost of a child would look like, gaunt and bony and…

 

“Theo, some visitors are here to see you.”

 

He didn’t respond, staring off into space with his mouth agape, drool dripping down his chin.  

 

Katie was staring with some sort of wide-eyed pain for a few seconds, then it melted off into clinical indifference.  “In your message you said you had scans and charts diagnosing his condition? Can I see them?”

 

The priestess nodded to the nurse, who handed over a slate black tablet that lit up with images.

 

“We received him around three years ago from a refugee camp.  He had been liberated from the Galra but had become almost entirely unresponsive.”

 

Shiro felt himself become nauseous, and excused himself without explanation.  He ran towards the nearest door, bursting through into a tiny tea garden, adorned with glass plants and real plants alike.  The air wasn’t quite as thick out here, and he felt himself start to calm down immediately.

 

The humid air was clearing out his head, and he dropped to his knees in the garden, whole body shuddering with the realization that his future might be strapped to a bed and there was nothing he could do about it

  


***

  


Katie’s eyes were squinting at the material on the tablet, when her mouth dropped open.  “How old is he?”

 

The nurse looked grim, wiping down his forehead with a cold rag.  “That’s the tricky part,” she said softly, “our life spans are usually around a hundred deca-phoebs, but… you see, his skin and face put him at around adolescence, but his bones and brain are… they’re ancient.  I’d venture a guess and say that he was in the Galra’s hands for…”

 

“A thousand years,” Katie whispered to herself, looking at the markers that the nurse circled on the brain scan.

 

Her fingers were shaking as she mapped her fingers over the brain, shriveled up like a raisin.  “It looks like they were able to find a way to preserve everything except the brain,” she suddenly felt ill, “this must have been an early stage model, a lot of the machinery is clunkier and degrading, but it’s also less intricately wound into the nervous system…”

 

The nurse was looking over at Katie with interest now.  “What do you mean ‘early stage’? Early stage of what?”

 

Katie bit her lip, saying, “Zarkon’s right hand woman developed a way of experimenting and creating human weapons for entertainment.  She seems to have been developing this for years, but… what would Haggar want with a mindless drone?”

 

It was when she said ‘Haggar’.  Suddenly, almost doll-like with mechanical snaps and clinks, the patient sat up, looking at Katie with blank, milky eyes.

 

“Waiting for order,” he didn’t open his mouth; the sound came from somewhere in his chest, and Katie backed up, stunned.

 

“Um, your order is to go back to sleep,” Katie tried tentatively, but the head shook, whipping back and forth.  

 

“My orders are to fight someone.  Who shall I fight?”

 

The voice was so… dead and robot-like.  Actually, Katie had made robots with more life in them.

 

The nurse had jumped back and was clutching her chest.  “What in Freeboo…”

 

“Scanning environment to locate target,” he rattled off a string of foreign words, like a code of some sort, before his eyes rested on the door Shiro exited to.

 

“Target confirmed.”

 

It only took a second.  Katie reached into her small bag for her bayard, but was quickly knocked back by a heavy metal hand.  She cursed, whipping her weapon out and aiming it for the patient.

 

Without hesitating he caught it, opening his mouth in a smile littered with missing green teeth.

 

He threw her bayard, and Katie with it, towards the other patients.  She felt the familiar feeling of battle flood her veins, and she landed on her feet, narrowly avoiding a nurse.

 

“Everyone evacuate!” Katie screamed, and the nurses quickly started rolling the beds out of the hall.

 

She started rushing back towards the door, but she heard the wall smash in and the sound of metallic clanging, and she stopped short to see Shiro’s metal arm fending Theo off, both of their hands glowing purple.

 

“Fuck,” Katie cursed, winding up and thrashing her whip out again to wrap around the patient’s neck.

 

They didn’t even flinch.  She tugged and pulled but soon the stretch of material fell to the ground, useless.

 

Alright then, game change.

 

She retracted her whip and closed her eyes, focusing all her energy on the bayard.  

 

She saw Shiro whip around the patient and try to get at them, but Theo was too quick, not even looking as he was robotically blocking all advances.

 

Katie didn’t get the chance to make fun of Shiro for fighting while looking like a cross between a fraternity fuckboy and toddler, though, because her bayard had changed shape.

 

All bayards had the capability to change into any weapon, but for years they assumed that this meant that each person only got one.  However, after a little tinkering, Katie had managed to manifest a new form for her weapon.

 

It was a flat expanse of a white and green kite shield, narrow and tapered to a sharp point at the bottom edge.  It was both a defensive and offensive weapon, and as Katie was currently wearing nothing that could protect her, this was her best bet.

 

Shiro and Theo were neck and neck.  Watching them move was too fast to even keep track of, Katie’s eyes barely following their quick exchange of blows.

 

When she saw that Shiro paused, having been kicked square in the face and sent flying backwards, and saw that his nose was bleeding, she jumped into the fray.  The tapered end of her shield rammed right into Theo’s back, almost too easily, and Katie felt nauseous as the metal sliced clean through and into their left shoulder blade.

 

She pulled it back out with a sickening crunch, the smell of rotting flesh hitting the air even more powerfully.  Katie’s nose crinkled, falling back farther than an arm’s length in case Theo decided to retaliate.

 

His head turned towards her, and then farther, until she wanted to puke because their head had turned all the way around and was watching her with white misty eyes.  “Damage retained. New competitor registered.”

 

While he was distracted, Shiro came in behind him and managed to slice up a bit of Theo’s chest, but quickly found that his sternum was reinforced with metal.  Theo quickly snapped back around and began sparring with Shiro, and Katie tried to knock him off his feet from behind.

 

It was just like the old days, Katie thought.  The two of them worked together, shield and sword, blocking Theo’s attacks and attempting to incapacitate him, but no matter how many times they managed to land an attack on Theo he didn’t seem to flinch at all.

 

Katie looked around quickly to make sure that all of the patients had been evacuated.  Most of them had been moved out of the immediate area and into the other side of the infirmary, but the nurses and temple staff had formed a living wall between the fight and the patients, protecting them from harm.

 

While she was distracted, though, Katie saw a lit up hand go straight for Shiro’s chest.

 

It happened very quickly.  The hand found flesh, but it wasn’t Shiro.  Katie had moved to jump between them, but the narrow shield was knocked out of the way and there was a zinging sound of singeing flesh as Katie pulled back with a gasp of pain.

 

She stumbled back, feeling wetness start to trickle warmly down the open skin of her back.  She put her shield back up instinctively and fell to her knee for a second before seeing that Shiro had gone into a frenzy.

 

It was honestly terrifying to watch.  He screamed aggressively, moving his hand to hit every patch of skin he could reach.  All of the damaged areas were just wilting into open wounds without any blood or scream of pain.  Katie quickly struggled back up and blocked an attack on Shiro’s left. Then Shiro managed to find an opening in Theo’s chest and dug his hand in, slicing clean down to his abdomen.  Slimy, rotting organs flooded into the room, and Shiro backed up and dry heaved.

 

Katie just looked at the mess of a floor and staggered back, falling to her knees again.

 

“I don’t feel so good,” Katie intoned weakly, her eyelids drooping.  Theo had fallen over, whirring and clicks still echoing from his chest, but Shiro had rushed over to Katie.

 

“Quiznack, Katie,” Shiro hugged her to him, checking out the wound on her back.  “This is… oh no. Oh no no no no HELP!!!”

 

The nurses rushed in and carried her off without preamble, stripping her top and laying her on her stomach as she groaned and squirmed.

 

“Don’t try to move,” Shiro whispered warmly, hand firmly keeping her shoulder down.  

 

Despite her complaints, she didn’t even flinch when they started in on the stitches.  Shiro had seen battle wounds and altogether this one wasn’t too bad. The electricity had cauterized parts of the site, only a little bit of sluggish blood pumping out of the four inches of exposed flank.  Shiro's fingers found hers, and he realized then that she hadn’t screamed once but her fingers were clutching his in a death grip.

 

She hides her pain just like she hides her strength, turns out.

 

It took about twenty minutes, but finally they had finished patching her up.  They were hesitant to give her any painkillers for fear of the dosage being horribly off, so Shiro made a note to get her some when they got back.

 

The priestess stepped into their curtained area with mischievous brown eyes.  “What would you like to do with the body?”

 

_Burn it.  Tear it to pieces.  Smash him until he’s nothing but bone dust and shining metal filings_ Shiro thought viciously.  

 

Shiro watched Katie’s pained face and squinting eyes as he gently lifted her up.  She leaned into him, and Shiro was reminded of how small she once was compared to him.  They’d given her a gown to cover up, and even then she was swimming in it. Her face was pale and her fingers were clutching Shiro’s shirt, lips thinned into a line.  

 

So small, yet so mighty.

 

“Load it into the ship,” she rasped, looking up at Shiro.  “It’s easier to examine dead things anyway.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Shiro recalls a time when he was jealous. Also, Katie turns to an old friend for help.


	9. This Kiss that I Missed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie and Shiro take Theo back to the lab and get a consultation from Jessa. Also, they finally begin to confront their growing feelings for each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> I know that I've been hella inconsistent with the updates of this fic. I just went through a huge move and during that process it was nearly impossible to sit down and get some chapters out, but during that time I have done a decent amount of planning and I think I know exactly where I want this fic to go.
> 
> Thank you always to my usual readers... ALSO LOOK AT THE AMAZING ART THAT ONE OF THE READERS MADE!!! Follow them at https://hadobaloo.tumblr.com !! I'm working on their request now ;)
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy this little nugget of story

Katie was still clutching Shiro tightly to her when the priestess left.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, pressing her forehead against his chest as he wrapped his arms protectively around her.  “I… I get it now. I know why you need this so badly. Before I… I wanted to help but I still didn’t understand why you didn’t just let yourself live forever.  I… get it now.”

 

Seeing Theo, who was more machine than man and quite literally rotting from the inside had completely rocked Katie’s view of all of this.  Until then the idea of what Shiro had been implying was difficult to foresee when he was standing so young and healthy in front of her.

 

Shiro shushed her and stroked her back soothingly, careful of her stitches.

 

“You took that hit for me,” Shiro whispered, not as a question but more as a startled statement.

 

Her warm breath puffed out onto and through the thin button-up he was wearing (it was a little singed at the bottom).  When she leaned back, Shiro caught her eyes, and they were shining with emotion.

 

“I promised to help you.  What kind of person would I be if I let you get hit?”

 

“I wouldn’t have died,” he said tiredly, with a tentative smile.  “You were the one that told me that.”

 

It was then that the lights turned out in Katie’s eyes, flickering for a brief moment, as she muttered, “there are things worse than death, Takashi.”

 

When her eyes flickered back to life, her lips parted in surprise at what she herself had said.  Their eyes met for a moment, and despite the bustle of the hospital around them trying to recover from the mess just made the two of them were suddenly enclosed in their own little bubble of the world, cut off from everything.

 

One breath, two breaths, three breaths…

 

...suddenly Shiro was leaning in, eyelids drooping slightly, and closed the distance between them.

 

He pressed a fierce kiss to her forehead, leaning her towards him with his hand so she couldn’t pull away.  Katie felt a furious blush spread over the bridge of her nose.

 

As Shiro leaned away again, Katie growled.

 

His dark eyes widened in shock.  “What’s wrong?”

 

She chuckled for a moment, and joked, “You call that a kiss?”

 

It was so quick when Katie leaned forward and tilted Shiro’s chin down to kiss him on the mouth, lips moving together for a passionate moment of tongue and teeth and lips and within it something that was distinctly _them_.

 

They both felt like there were fireworks going off underneath their skin. When they parted, Katie’s blush had only grown.

 

“I… Katie, I…” Shiro looked both turned on and lost, which was an odd combination altogether.  Suddenly the curtain was pulled back, and none other than Agade bustled through the opening, her yellow feathers in disarray.

 

“I hope you have an explanation for why you thought it appropriate to let a vicious machine loose in one of my hospitals.  I want answers, now, before I bring you to the Happy Garden.”

 

Katie had a few questions about what the Happy Garden was, exactly, but needed to stress something else first.  “I just came to compare some scans of someone else I’m working with. I was trying to see where the similarities and differences were.  It was in no way my intention to activate him. I didn’t even know he could be activated.”

 

Agade visibly twitched at that, her bright pink lipstick smearing a bit on her lip as she bit it pondering what to do.

 

Shiro stood.  “I think that we’ve gotten everything we needed.  You can load the body onto the ship, and we’ll leave your planet and won’t look back.”

 

The leader’s eyes blew wider, and her long neck seemed to stretch with the strain the conversation was having on her.  “You will not send one of my subjects to be taken apart like a lab rat and studied! They are to be sent to be made into flower pods, so that they can bring happiness even after death.”

 

Katie glanced behind Agade at the high priestess, who was staring daggers in the back of her leader’s hair.

 

“We’ll take care of those arrangements, my lady,” the high priestess began gently guiding Agade out of the medical bay.

 

A few moments later she was back, her luminous eyes severe.  “I don’t know who let that bumbling idiot back here, but you shouldn’t have any more problems from her.  You’re welcome to do your autopsy, but just arrange for the body to be returned here for proper burial after you’ve finished with it.”

 

With a solemn nod of the head, Katie reminded herself that it was the right thing to do.

 

As they loaded onto the ship and made sure to secure the body down, Katie couldn’t help but feel extremely aware of where Shiro was.  His lips on hers only made her crave his touch even more. She was also brimming with questions. What does this mean for them? Does it mean anything?  Is Shiro just as panicked as she was? What if that wasn’t what he was going for? What if she’d scared him off? What if…

 

When they settled at the controls, Shiro let his hand fall over hers.  She blushed as he flipped the hand over and brought it to his lips to kiss.

 

 _Oh_ she thought faintly, _I… guess that answers that question._

 

He piloted them back to the lab in mostly silence.  Katie was chewing the inside of her lip raw with questions and the desire to be alone finally so that they could talk about Theo and the smell and the kiss and the fight.

 

When they landed and parked next to the lab, Katie called a few assistants out to help transport the body from the ship into the morgue.  There was only one last thing to do.

 

 

***

 

 

Their resident medical expert was dissecting a small animal from a nearby planet when Katie walked in on her.  He dark hair was wound up into a messy bun, and her fingers were working the dead tissue apart very gently.

 

Jessa didn’t flinch when Katie knocked, but finished what she was doing and looked up slowly.  When she saw who it was, she looked relieved.

 

“I’m glad you’re okay.  I was getting worried for a little while there… is that a hospital gown?”

 

Katie glanced down at herself, realizing all at once that she was still wearing the hospital gown from the high priestess.  The clothes that Agade had fitted for her were ripped and bloodied in a trash shoot somewhere.

 

“I was in a little fight, nothing major,” she brushed off, coming a little further into the room.  “I need to ask for a consult on something.”

 

Cocking her head to the side, her lips pursed with curiosity.  “Is this about Shiro?”

 

“Yes.” Katie answered, “and also no. We found another one of Haggar’s experiments.  This one looks to be a lot older with less intricate circuitry. I could really use you on this one to help me make sense of all this.”

 

Her expression melted a little bit at the plea, and the raven haired girl was following Katie back to the morgue.

 

When the two walked in, Shiro stood up straighter, nodding cordially to Jessa, who just smiled tightly and then gasped, walking wide-eyed towards the body.

 

It was a pretty gruesome sight.  The body was mostly in rotting pieces, and Jessa wrinkled her nose and put gloves on, starting to poke at the mass with disgust and interest.  “This is… very old tech. You can see where the wires and nerves connect, which with modern methods they should be indistinguishable. How old did you say this guy was?”

 

“Over a thousand years,” Katie said softly, and Shiro visibly paled, hands balled into fists at his sides.

 

Jessa was completely overwhelmed, her fingers moving through the tissue that was practically dissolving around where she touched it.  “It looks like they weren’t able to get the circulatory system down. If you notice, there was decreased blood flow in and out of the mechanical parts, causing necrosis in quite a few places. Most notably, a fixed spinal injury on the neck cut off a significant amount of blood flow to the brain.  There’s… there’s a device here, though.”

 

Jessa carefully extracted a small chip, turning it over in her gloved fingers.  “Was he showing any signs of life before this?”

 

“It was like he was on autopilot,” Shiro said calmly, and Jessa nodded, tucking the piece into a bag.

 

“I want to know what that does.” Jessa said determinedly, and Katie wasn’t about to start arguing with her.

 

Jessa worked over the body for another twenty minutes before shedding her gloves and covering Theo back up.

 

“The main problem was poor circulation causing tissue death.  Definitely check that on yourself, Shiro. If the circulation problem had been fixed, it would have been likely that he wouldn’t have degraded much at all.”

 

Was this good news?  Bad news? Katie was feeling relieved, but Shiro was looking just as pale as before.

 

The three of them exited the lab after that, Katie and Shiro heading back towards her place.  She was looking forward to collapsing onto her bed in a pair of her own pajamas and crashing after the day they had had.

 

When the door to Katie’s house closed, however, she found herself being lifted up around the backs of her thighs and pressed against the wall.  Somehow it was both erotically aggressive and gentle, and Katie wrapped her arms around Shiro’s neck as he leaned in and kissed her again.

 

Startled but pleased, Katie moaned into the kiss.  Shiro’s metal arm on her thigh was sending shivers up her spine, and she started playing with the hair on the back of his neck, brushing it soothingly as they broke apart.  Shiro pressed his forehead to hers in the moment after, breathing heavily.

 

“Is this okay?”

 

Biting her lip, Katie shook her head, and he dropped her so quickly and shot back a few feet, looking shaken.

 

“No, I don’t mean… I didn’t mean that I… I definitely wanted you to kiss me,” she finished lamely, trying to regroup, “but I’m sore and exhausted and could really use a shower and to get some healing salve on my back.  So… rain check?”

 

Face softening from horrified, he nodded.  “Go ahead. I need to clean up, too.”

 

In the shower, Katie was staring at her hands.  Did they look different? Did the whole world seem to change before her very eyes?  Everything shifted the second that she leaned forward and kissed Shiro. Her attention was pulled in two different directions between wanting to run every test imaginable on Theo but also her mind kept remembering the way Shiro had picked her up so effortlessly… where he had touched her was lit up like neon.  It was practically _burning_.  She had never wanted so badly to feel like she was on fire everywhere, for her whole body to light up under Shiro’s touches.

 

She changed into pajamas, brushed out her hair, applied healing salve, and padded around in thick socks to organize her thoughts in her room.

 

Before she knew it, she was descending the stairs.  Shiro was cleaning the dishes that were made from before they left, hair messy from a shower and wearing pajamas himself, and he didn’t hear her as she snuck up behind him and brushed against his shoulder.

 

He must have been holding back a lot, because he didn’t even pause to turn the water off before he lifted Katie up onto the counter.  Katie could feel soap lather up her thighs and knew that her shirt was getting sprayed from the water but she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

 

Surprisingly, though, the first kiss was tender.  Just a press of warm smiles together, of fluttering eyelids as they both couldn’t keep their eyes open and couldn’t look away.

 

Then, gently, Shiro turned the water off and pressed forward into her space again, his white hair falling into his one eye.  Katie could see the blush light up under his scar, and she wanted to kiss it senseless.

 

His warm breath tickled the still damp hair on her neck as his lips teased at her pulse point, pressing a tongue against the thin skin and making Katie gasp breathily.

 

“Takashi,” she managed to choke out as he pressed heated kisses and licks to her neck, standing a few inches off the counter between her legs, maintaining a distance for whatever stupid reason Katie couldn’t even fathom.

 

Annoyed, she hooked her legs out and pulled Shiro in closer, nestled right against her crotch and belly, and she felt her whole body heat up when she realized that Shiro was already half hard.

 

That might have been why.

 

He chuckled, leaning back from her neck and pressing his hands against her thighs to steady himself.  “Impatient, aren’t we?”

 

“I’ve been patient,” Katie growled out, fingertips teasing at his torso through his shirt.  “I’ve been so patient for so many years for you.”

 

There was a pregnant pause, but Katie didn’t look like she was about to take back what she said.  She'd realized how far back her feelings went, and there have never been secrets between her and Takashi.  Shiro always loved that she said what she meant, never having to worry about her not being honest with him.  It was just… knowing she’d had these feelings for so long made him light up from the inside.

 

Tears threatened to gather in Shiro’s eyes, and he shook his head, pressing a kiss to her nose and stepping back.

 

“I want us to talk about this.  Why don’t we get some sleep and come back to it in the morning?  I don’t think either of us intend to… talk right now.”

 

Katie snickered, hands sliding in and out of Shiro’s in a lazy dance of fingers and connection.  

 

“Good night, Takashi,” Katie whispered, hopping off the counter and knowing that the back of her soaking wet pajamas made them practically see through, clinging tightly to her cut back and round ass.

 

He was screwed, then.  His eyes widened as he watched her ascend the stairs.  She must know just what the image was doing to him, and she was walking so slowly and deliberately and Shiro was at a loss.

 

“Asshole,” Shiro thought fondly to himself, finishing up the dish he was working on and going to bed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, like, I'm already starting the next scene. It shouldn't take too long to come out.
> 
> Little side note: Consent is super important to me. The second that Shiro wasn't 100% sure if Katie wanted to be touched he backed away. That's just my writing. It's my mission to make sure that I portray healthy and consensual physical intimacy unless otherwise noted. 
> 
> To my regulars: <333333 all the love in the world  
> To new people: Welcome! I do mostly Voltron and Yuri on Ice stuff. If you like this, check out some of my other works! 
> 
> Leave a comment or kudos or something if you like it. It means the world<333


	10. Your Voice, a Sounding Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie and Shiro finally talk. Then, later, they "talk".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh boy!
> 
> I've been waiting to write this shit for months!!! I know you've all been waiting patiently, and hopefully this doesn't disappoint<3 
> 
> As usual, to my regulars, thank you for your support, kindness, and continued encouragement. I couldn't do it without you.
> 
> As usual, I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender

When Katie shuffled down the stairs early the next morning, she found a feast waiting for her.  Something that looked like pancakes was paired with something that looked like bacon and there was a steaming mug of tea or coffee or something similar waiting at her place at the table.

 

Shiro with an apron on, Katie decided, was her new favorite mental image.  He smiled widely at her when she came down and he finished serving up the drinks, coming over to her and kissing her gently.  It startled her to be so intimate so quickly, but she found herself blushing happily under his attention.

 

“I woke up early to get everything out for you,” Shiro sat down across from her in front of his own breakfast, “I wanted to make sure we were both well fed today.”

 

The implication made Katie cough into her drink, attempting to salvage her pride as the dark, sticky liquid dribbled down her chin.  

 

She looked up at his dark eyes, and they weren’t backing away.  Shiro was going for it, no holding back.

 

“So, um, we should talk,” Katie started, then took a huge bite of her breakfast to shut herself up.

 

Smiling knowingly, Shiro said in a husky voice, “Yeah, we should.  So last night when you said you’d been patient for so many years. How many years are we talking?”

 

Blushing, Katie nibbled on more breakfast, fiddling idly with her fork.  “I… it’s been a while.”

 

“What’s a while?”

 

The line of questioning seemed invasive, but Shiro was open and honest, looking extremely relaxed.  In fact, it was the most relaxed that he looked in days.

 

“I… it’s a little embarrassing…”

 

Cocking his head to the side, Shiro asked, “Would you like me to go first?”

 

Stunned, Katie squeaked, “Sure!  Um, yeah, go ahead.”

 

For a moment she wondered where the suave girl who stole a kiss from Shiro yesterday disappeared to in the span of one night, but she couldn’t be too concerned with that right now.

 

“I only really put it together recently, which I’m assuming is the same for you, but when I look back I think I can pinpoint the exact moment.  It was two years ago, when you brought your research before the Voltron Alliance to get funding. You were dressed professionally, had shot up a solid three inches, and it was when you were just starting to grow your hair out again,” Smiling a little at the memory, Shiro continued, “I remember sitting there and realizing all at once that you’d grown up.  You weren’t my friend’s little sister that I had to protect anymore. You’d helped save the universe and were presenting in front of this massive group of people as not only a subject matter expert, but as a high ranking official. I remember looking at you and thinking that you looked like someone else, but could see the little bits of the old you, like the glasses and you fiddling with your pen.  I remember feeling like the world had completely turned over on itself, and somehow I was supposed to continue to keep going like normal. I didn’t realize it then, but I think that’s when I knew.”

 

Katie was speechless, feeling tears start to well up in her eyes.  This can’t be real, can it? Shiro couldn’t be saying this, good things like this don’t happen to her.  She’s so used to biting and kicking and fighting to get anything to go halfway right, but this was dangling in front of her too easily.  She didn’t trust it, and found herself furrowing her brow.

 

Still, she said in a deep voice, “It was when you were gone.  When you disappeared, I felt like a part of me had disappeared with you.  I spent so many nights trying to stay up and find you, and I remember that one night I felt your loss like a gaping hole in my gut, and I went up to your room.  I curled up in your bed sheets. They… they still smelled like you. When I started to cry, I realized that something had changed. I just… didn’t fully grasp it until recently.”

 

Shiro had been giving all of his attention to Katie, and the two of them sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, eating their breakfasts and letting the red haze of the planet spill through the window and cast them in a brassy light.

 

When they finished, Katie said softly, “What does this mean, Takashi?”

 

Taking a sip of his drink, he muttered, “I don’t know.  I know what I want it to mean, but… I want to hear you go on and on about your research late into the night.  I want to hold your hand and kiss you and eat together in comfortable silence and I want to have your back while you have mine.  I trust you more than anyone else.”  


Katie set down her cup, looking up through her glasses in honest astonishment.  Her face was screwed up with some emotion that Shiro couldn’t decipher.

 

“I want all of that.  You don’t know how much I do,” her voice wavered, “I’m having so much trouble making this all seem real to me.  I don’t have any physical evidence. It’s too easy. I trust you but I don’t trust… this.”

 

Shiro stood up and came around to tower over her at the table.  He kneeled down before her, taking her tiny hand in his flesh one and placing it over his heart through his thin t-shirt.

 

His heart was racing.  “Feel that? That’s because of you.”

 

“Elevated heart rate would indicate nervousness, which could lead one to believe that you were emotionally attached to me.”

 

Shiro touched her face gently, with his robotic arm this time, and as Katie blushed he whispered, “Feel that?  The heat rushing to your skin? That’s because of us.”

 

Nodding, Katie felt her lower lip tremble as Shiro leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her nose.  It was unexpected, and made her laugh nervously, when he said softly, “You could feel me, right? That felt real?  It isn’t a dream. This is us.”

 

Tears started streaming down her face as Shiro leaned in and kissed her properly on the mouth this time, a lingering kiss that made his breath catch.

 

“Does it feel real now?” he murmured against her lips, and she nodded, surging forward and kissing him again.

 

Breakfast was forgotten.  Shiro wrapped her legs around his waist, standing up and cradling her as he wandered towards his room.

 

“No, my room,” Katie cut him off, and Shiro followed the order without hesitation.  Katie’s lips travelled down his jaw as he walked, pressing licks and scrapes of teeth against his neck.  Katie had been wanting to get her lips on Shiro’s neck for years, and finally it was hers to ravage.

 

Also, being carried up to her bedroom by a ridiculously hot and strong man was on her bucket list.  Truthfully, she didn’t know if she could do it any other way, now.

 

When they got up there Shiro kneeled onto the bed, lowering her carefully onto the tangle of sheets and blankets and pillows.  When her back hit the mattress, that was when things started to feel really real for her, and she moaned brokenly, thanking every deity in existence that this was finally happening.

 

Their mouths met again, and Shiro hovered above her, pressing licking kisses into her mouth.  They were both holding back before, it seemed, because Katie was biting and pulling at Shiro’s hair to get a better angle on his neck and if Shiro didn’t know any better he would say that he’d died and gone to heaven because this was too good to be true.

 

Shiro’s fingers played along the exposed strip of her abdomen, and she got the hint and took off the shirt.  It was her pajamas and she wasn’t wearing a bra, and Shiro came back to stare at her, pupils dilated and lips parted in hunger.

  


She was a little self conscious, still.  Her boobs had grown in pretty late, and she was still getting used to the weight and feel of them, and with Shiro staring down at her like a delicious meal, she felt the heat of that gaze all the way down to her crotch.

 

“Tell me if I do something you don’t like,” he said seriously, bending forward and pressing a tentative kiss to her left nipple.

 

There were _teeth._ The good kind of teeth, though.  The scrape and press and playful biting that set Katie aflame.  She took off her glasses and set the aside, running her fingers through Shiro’s short hair as he sucked and bruised and buried his face into her breasts.

 

“Ah, Takashi,” she whimpered as his lips started to trail lower, soft, wet pecks against her abdomen that made her breathing hitch.

 

When he got to her pajama pants, he looked up at Katie for permission, who nodded, completely at his mercy.

 

Katie was never the submissive type in bed, but there was something about Takashi that made her want to let him get what he wants and give her what he pleased.  She was pliant and moaning under his gentle but firm hands, and as he pulled her pants down and she kicked them off, she immediately spread her legs for him, desperate to make sure he knew what she wanted.

 

However, he started at her ankles, placing a soft kiss there as he took off her socks one by one, then ran his hands up her legs.  The flesh one set her body on fire, and the metal one felt cold and unforgiving against her flesh, making her groan.

 

“Please, Takashi, please,” she whispered breathily, and he chuckled, coming up and kissing her on the lips first, taking in her glazed over expression and heavy breathing.

 

“You’re going to do whatever I say, aren’t you?”

 

There was no shame there.  She nodded quickly, needing Shiro to move along with the program.

 

His own groan as he pressed his lips on her clavicle, and then back over each bruising nipple, and finally above her panty line, where he shed the barrier and took her in fully below him.

 

She was a wet mess.  She didn’t think she’d ever wanted anything as bad as she wanted Shiro to touch her there.  She could never remember getting this wet over anyone before, feeling the chill catch when her panties were removed and she was exposed to the air.

 

The completely blown away look on Shiro’s face was mouth watering.  She tried to spread her legs impossibly wider, hitching one of them up towards Shiro’s shoulders.  He caught it and tucked it next to his neck, licking down it until he finally licked his way to the real prize.

 

When his teeth went directly for her clit and caught on it, she hissed and bucked at the sensation, babbling, “yes please that do that…”

 

Katie had never come so hard and fast in her life as when Shiro attacked her clit, nipping and sucking.  As she was coming down from her initial orgasm, Shiro’s fingers started gathering the slick fluid around her entrance, and he made a noise like a dying man, dipping his fingers in and out and savoring the sucking sounds they made.

 

“You’re so wet for me,” he purred, taking one of the dripping fingers and sucking on it enthusiastically.  Katie was gone still, completely blown away that this was her real life, and not some dream she was having…

 

After he finished licking off his finger, he dove in.  The sounds he was making were moist and lapping and pornographic in ways that Katie could barely even fathom.  She was tingling from her toes to her stomach, gasping and moaning and praising him.

 

Katie couldn’t even begin to process how much bigger he was than her.  His thick forearms wrapped around and almost touched her upper arms, and he was devouring her like she was his last meal.  She honestly was so blissed out after a little while that she lost track of time altogether, until another orgasm was wrung out of her in a sob, and Shiro pressed kisses to her opening and labia and up her abdomen, until he came up and wiped his mouth off on his t-shirt, discarding it onto the floor.

 

When he stopped, she whimpered, and Shiro chuckled, biting into her abdomen.  “Did you want me to keep going?”

 

“Yes,” she breathed happily, “Forever, never stop.  I’m all yours if you treat me like that.”

 

Her last statement was teasing, and Shiro came up to press a wet kiss to her lips, and she could feel his straining erection against her dripping entrance through his sweatpants.  With how amazing she felt, she had no problem pushing Shiro up until they were both on their knees in the bed, him falling back on his feet and her at her full height.

 

They came together for a messy kiss, and Katie began pulling his sweats off.  Chuckling, Shiro took her eager hands into his before she could get too far.

 

“Do you have condoms up here?”

 

Biting her lip, she pushed Shiro back onto her pillows, straddling him with a predatory gaze.

 

Katie went into her nightstand and pulled out a small collection of condom options, which made Shiro’s face set ablaze.  “What… what even are most of these?”

 

“Well, we have ribbed, we have her pleasure, we have his pleasure…”

 

Shiro was blinking up at her astonished.  “I… you... ?”

 

Her brow furrowed, face still blushing and eyes glazed over from getting eaten out.  “I saved the universe before eighteen, Shiro. People practically line up for me.”

 

Flabbergasted, Shiro ran his hands up her sides, grasping at her heavy breasts, then taking the small box from her.

 

“What’s this one?”

 

Biting her lip, she set the others aside and pulled the small purple condom out, smiling down at Shiro.  “This one I found in my many travels around the galaxy. It has a substance on it that intensifies pleasure for both parties.  I’ve never actually tried it out…”

 

Shiro lifted his hand up and gently removed the condom from her hand, placing it back in the box and taking out a ribbed option.

 

“Let’s save the unknown alien substances for another time,” Shiro said softly, and Katie laughed, starting to palm at Shiro through his pants.  “That’s fair.”

 

She was already gyrating her hips, her body knowing what was coming and desperately wanting it.  

 

“How many times did I make you come?” he gasped breathily as she pressed at his erection through his sweatpants again.  He threw his head back with a groan.

 

“Twice.”

 

Shiro smiled devilishly up at her.  “What’s your record?”

 

Blinking, Katie whispered, “I don’t think…”

 

“If I’m just going to be one of Katie Holt’s many lovers, I want to make sure that I’m memorable,” he teased, reddened mouth cocking a fond smile up at her.

 

Katie sat back on her heels, setting the condom aside and leaned down to nip at Shiro’s ear, her hair falling around them and creating almost a curtain of privacy in their empty little house.

 

“You’re not just another lover,” Katie said very seriously, “You’ll always be memorable.  You’re… you.”

 

Pulling back, Shiro looked up at her in awe, running his hand to push her hair back from her face, taking her in completely.

 

It took only a moment to wrestle off his pants, and Katie’s mouth watered at the sight of Shiro’s dick, but she had her eye on the prize, ripping open the condom with her teeth.  Shiro whistled lowly at that, and she whacked him in the chest teasingly, positioning the condom over him and unrolling it slowly, careful to make sure Shiro felt each ridge as it touched his sensitive member.

 

Once it was on fully, Katie leaned forwards and kissed Shiro hotly, nipping at his lower lip with affection.

 

“Ready?”

 

Nodding, Shiro propped himself up on his elbows, gazing up at Katie with a smile.

 

She ran her hand over his sheathed cock, positioning herself over him before sinking down.

 

The way the ribs hugged Shiro’s cock as it slid devastatingly slowly up into Katie made her gasp and whimper, sinking down further with each rotation of her hips over him.

 

When she bottomed out, she closed her eyes, savoring the drag against her insides, wanting nothing more than to savor this moment for as long as possible.

 

After a few blissful moment she started to ride him agonizingly slowly, her breath catching and heart racing at the sweet drag of the ridges against her opening and the feeling of being full of Shiro, stretched out and wanting nothing more than to be laid claim to.

 

Suddenly, though, Shiro pulled his one leg up so that it was positioned under his hip and started using that as leverage to fuck up into her, making her see stars.

 

Katie actually screamed at one particularly hard thrust, and before they knew it they were chasing something just within reach, moaning and gasping and Katie even started laughing at some point just before she climaxed because she’d had great sex but this was legendary.  This was a whole new level, completely changing her standards.

 

Their presses were hard and aggressive against each other after that, Katie riding the high of her third orgasm.  Katie knew she was going to hurt after a little while, and that she would probably be limping for a few days but even that thought somehow just made it that much hotter.  She wanted to be limping from Shiro, she wanted Shiro to see just how much he wrecked her and she wanted him to see how hungry she would be for more.

 

After Shiro sat up and started pounding up into Katie, his breathing became more labored, and he was whispering into her ear, biting at her lobe and pressing hot kisses into her neck as he fucked up into her with everything that he had.

 

“You’re so fucking perfect.  I want to treat you like a queen.  You’re confident, and sexy, and smart, and right now you’re all mine, and if I had my way I’d fuck you senseless every day for the rest of my… life…” his voice trailed off at that as he bucked harshly into her, biting into her collarbone and making her see stars.

 

“Ah, yeah baby just like that,” she purred, running her fingers soothingly through Shiro’s hair and gently leveraging herself off of him, collapsing next to him in a sweaty heap.

 

They both stared at the ceiling, barely able to catch their breath as their hands found each other’s and entwined together.

 

“Oh,” Katie breathed, body still going off in little fireworks from the fact that she’d orgasmed four times and could barely even form coherent thoughts.

 

“Yeah,” Shiro gruffly whispered, looking over at her with wide eyes.

 

They stayed like that for a little while, tangled in the sheets, breathing slowing down and bodies rolling through the high they’d just achieved.

 

Katie’s giddy smile was framed by her wild hair, and Shiro looked like a man stripped down to his core and laid bare, completely and totally head over heels for the girl curling up next to him, and they both just laid there in happy quiet.

 

They’d just communicated plenty without any words at all.

  


***

  


Somewhere not too far away, a girl with dark hair pinned up in a messy bun was running some tests on a tiny chip.  Not a few rooms away, something had started beeping incessantly, going unnoticed as the morgue was left abandoned.

 

Jessa didn’t notice when the signal was sent out into the cosmos.  

 

She didn’t see when a witch on the other side of the universe smiled cockily, yellow teeth pulled into a snarl.

 

“Found you,” she hissed, and turned to her captain.  “We have new coordinates.”

 

A camouflaged Galra ship rose out from the shadows of an asteroid belt, chugging back to life with a small accompanying fleet.

 

She pulled back her robes, bright eyes shining in the starlight.  

 

“You won’t get away from me this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah it's basically just a giant pile of smut. ALSO they're totally going to be trying out that fun condom, whether it be in this series or a one-off or whatever. I'm going to write it, come hell or high water!!
> 
> Next time: we find out whether Shiro and Katie will find Haggar, or if she'll find them first
> 
> If you like this, check out some of my other works! I have a short special request companion work that is included in this series. Also, if you like Klance, I've got a two-part series going on with one-shots of Keith and Lance being adorable with a little spice of angst thrown in.


	11. The Deal with the Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie and Shiro have a lovely morning, until something interrupts them very rudely. Katie has a decision to make

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello loves<3 
> 
> So season 6, amirite? I won't put any spoilers here, no worries! I will say that I'm going to continue the story as planned without editing for the new content, so with that in mind please be kind about any comments you might have.
> 
> This fic might have like three or four more chapters? Idk man it's a runaway train at this point.
> 
> As always, I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender

When Katie woke up back up again later that morning, it was to Shiro’s fingers lightly trailing along her body, trying to memorize every inch of her.  She smiled groggily at him, her bright eyes sparkling with mischief.

 

She quickly straddled him, fingers finding his soft cock and starting to massage it between her fingers, watching Shiro’s face become overcome with emotion and desire.  

 

“Hmmm, you know I never imagined that you would be so big,” Katie moaned out breathlessly, using her other hand to trail across her bruised breasts and swipe along her upper thigh, “When I first saw this I wanted to get my mouth on it immediately.  I… can I?”

 

Her pupils were dilated as she looked up at Shiro questioningly, and he sat up, bringing her lips to his, pressing a gentle kiss against hers.  “Rock my world.”

 

Grinning, Katie slid down Shiro’s body, running her tongue flat across his chest, biting playfully at his hip bones and letting her nose ghost over the outlines of his abs.  When she got to his cock, mostly hard in her hand from her own ministrations, she licked a long stripe up the side, mouthing at it sloppily and spreading her saliva down the length, still using her fingers to help spread the wetness.

 

“That’s right,” Shiro gasped out, fingers tangling in her wild hair and resisting the urge to thrust up into her mouth.

 

Katie licked the tip, dipping into the slit and circling down until her lips were holding the first third of the cock in her mouth, and she took a moment to take in the weight and the smell and she tongued at the ridges and veins, dipping farther until she had another third of his cock starting to stuff down close to her throat.

 

At that moment, Katie sucked, making the wettest noises as she sucked Shiro down like it was her job.  She laved over his cock, pressing it farther and farther back in her throat, closing her eyes and loving how she made him squirm.

 

She loved the idea that Shiro was inside of her, pushing past her defenses.  If it were up to her she’d be full of him whenever they could. She loved the feeling of something on her tongue and intruding on her, making her mouth water and eyes roll back into her head.

 

It didn’t take long before Shiro was warning her about coming, but there was no way she would pop off for this part.

 

Her lips drew back a little bit as he came down her throat, salty wetness that burned and made her want to swallow it for days, made her want to feel him sloshing around inside of her… her stomach swirled with the new contents and she licked greedily at his cock to get any leftovers.

 

“You love sucking cock, don’t you?” Shiro accused, still completely blown away.

 

Shaking her head, Katie pressed messy kisses around his inner thighs.  “I love sucking your cock. I want you inside me all the time,” Katie knew she was babbling from arousal, but Shiro sat up at that, bringing her lips up to taste himself against her tongue.

 

“All the time, huh?”

 

She found herself falling back against the bed, splayed out underneath his huge hulking figure as he took two metallic fingers and stuffed her full of him.  She gasped and whined at the chilly but welcome intrusion, and Shiro took two of his other fingers and stuffed them in her mouth. She keened, sucking enthusiastically on the two digits in her mouth, spreading them with her tongue and swallowing down around them.  Shiro started a torturously slow pace on her vagina, but the combination of the two, of having Shiro inside of her in two places like this was making her feel all levels of hot and bothered.

 

The sounds she was making were unreal.  When Shiro curled his fingers just right she sucked his other fingers down more greedily, almost biting them in her desire to be full of him.  

 

“I would love to stuff you full of me.  I’d love to get toys and just fill you until you couldn’t take anymore,” his voice was starting to pitch as he added two more metallic fingers to her entrance, making her roll her hips encouragingly. She could tell that he was getting hard again, but she was just so close, wanted him to finish her off before they got to sex…

 

Then Shiro stretched his fingers in such a way that has her spasming twice before a euphoric glow spread over her, making her see stars and drool over Shiro’s flesh fingers in her mouth, her own hands reaching out and touching Shiro’s face in complete bliss.

 

He removed his fingers from everywhere, pressing kisses to her lips and neck.  

 

“You felt so amazing inside of me.  Next time I want you to tie me up and have your way with me.  I promise I’ll be a good pet,” her voice broke at that last part, blushing bright red from the terminology.

 

“Pet?” Shiro panted, smiling evilly, “Does that make me your master?”

 

You see, Katie wanted to be really, really embarrassed but truthfully she just couldn’t stop Shiro’s voice from spinning around in her head with the words “pet” and “master” over and over and over…

 

A crashing sound outside made the two of them jump apart quickly, immediately feeling like they’d been dumped out in the cold.  A chill had settled over the room, and Katie wasn’t sure if it was the lack of body heat or if it was just some sort of odd weather anomaly.

 

“What the hell was that?” Katie jumped up and started pulling clothes on, running towards the window and looking outside in horror.

 

It was an old Galra cruiser, and it was descending on the research base with lasers blowing up the ground around the buildings.  They were clearly warning shots, but Katie felt fear drip all the way down to her toes.

 

She’d worked too fucking hard to build this place to watch it crumble.  She bolted into her closet, grabbing some armor and two guns. She threw one at Shiro, and took out her bayard as well.  There were another few items she grabbed, including extra ammo and some explosives.

 

Apparently Galra descending was a sufficient enough boner killer, because Shiro was only two steps behind her, taking everything she tossed back at him without question.

 

Katie clicked a communicator into her ear, saying, “Hello?  Anyone? Come in this is Red Leader.”

 

A chorus of concerned voices parroted their presence back, and Katie said quickly, “I need everyone to enact evacuation mode Delta.  Please find your escape pods and get out of here as quickly as possible.”

 

Cocking his head to the side, Shiro’s eyebrows furrowed.  “You’re not going with them?”

 

Katis shook her head, cocking the gun in her hands, lips thinned in seriousness.  “Evacuation mode Delta only allows for subordinates to escape. A captain always goes down with her ship.”

 

“Wait, that’s insane Katie!  Who came up with such a stupid…”

 

Narrowing her eyes, Katie bit out, “Me, you dingus.  If I can distract the Galra long enough then the others can get our safely.”

 

Mouth agape, Shiro yelled, “What about you?!”

 

“Voltron isn’t needed anymore,” Katie said quietly, starting to walk down the stairs.  “I’m not an essential person anymore. My safety shouldn’t be placed above anyone else’s.”

 

Shiro followed her, anger dripping from every pore.  “Just because you aren’t needed as a paladin anymore doesn’t mean that you aren’t needed!  I… I don’t want to lose you.”

 

She was already at the door, her fingers shaking on the handle.

 

“I love you, Shiro, but you need to let me do this.  Plus, have a little faith in me. You know that I won’t go down without a fight.”

 

Her bright hazel eyes were looking over at him with something similar to excitement.  The look was enough to pacify Shiro for a moment, because she wouldn’t look that excited about running out to her death, right?  He had to have faith in her.

 

The door opened, and there was a panicked Jessa on the other side, decked out in armor and carrying a heavy shotgun.  “I’ve already sent the emergency beacon to the Alliance,” Katie told Jessa, “Have you contacted the base?”

 

She nodded.  “They’re going to send a squadron over, but it could take over an hour.”

 

“How many have we evacuated?” Katie was running towards the lab itself, clicking around on her communicator.  

 

“Right now it’s a forty-six percent evacuation rate.  Almost everyone was already on their way out when they heard the ship.”

 

That was good, then.  Most people made it out safely.  

 

The three of them ran towards the lab with the Galra ship above them looming eerily.

 

“How will they get off planet?  Won’t the ship shoot them down?”

 

Jessa shook her head, shooting at a drone that had just landed on the ground near them.  “Katie designed the escape pods to have three possible exit routes on three different areas of the moon, in case of this kind of an emergency.”

 

Stunned, Shiro watched Katie continue to click around as she ran before they reached the door to the lab.  Katie wrenched it open and the three of them filed in. Bright red alarms were going off, casting them occasionally in the unflattering light and projecting monstrous shadows behind each of them.

 

“We have four defense towers,” Katie said softly, starting down the hall.  “The controls are in four separate places in case any access is cut off. I have a droid manning one of them, and I just woke him up.”

 

Jessa tugged Shiro to follow Katie down a long flight of stairs.  “There are three control rooms down this way. I’m going to the one all the way to the left.  Jessa, go to the one right. Shiro, I need you to follow this hall straight down for above three or four minutes, then the control room should come up right in front of you.  The password is my three favorite prime numbers.”

 

Cocking a smile, he saw Jessa turn off to her control room.  An exit came up on the left, and she went to go down it before gasping when he caught her hand first, swinging her towards him and bringing her in to kiss her fiercely.  

 

“Be careful,” Katie begged softly, and they ran in their own directions, knowing what job they had.

 

Katie clicked her communicator to just Shiro and Jessa, who were both panting with the exertion and stress.  “What’s our evacuation status?”

 

_“Seventy-eight percent.  We’ve just got a few stagglers.  Also, I just reached my control room.”_

 

Her own door quickly appeared at the end of the long metallic hall, her footsteps clicking and echoing against the end of the hall.  When she got to the door she quickly punched in _135997_ and the door popped open.  She slammed it quickly behind her, and brought the security cameras on the screen.

 

The droid was firing at the ship, but Galra droids were raining down on them.  It didn’t appear that there were any real soldiers in this attack squad. She quickly ran the startup protocol on the defense tower’s guns, grabbing the controls and aiming for the engines of the Galra cruiser.

 

Firing off at them, she saw suddenly that there was a transmission request for the computers.  Katie bit her lip before pressing “accept”.

 

Her stomach dropped to the ground when she saw Haggar, the woman who experimented on Shiro, the very one who they had been trying to track down was on their very doorstep.

 

_“Green paladin, it seems we find ourselves in an interesting situation.  I have something that you want, and you have something that I want.”_

 

Her communicator in her ear went off with Jessa’s voice.  “ _Eighty-nine percent evacuated.”_

 

Katie knew that she just needed to stall long enough for the last of the ships to launch to safety, so she bit her lip, considering the offer.

 

“ _I fail to see what you have that I want,”_ she said easily, furrowing her brow.  

 

Her wide yellow smile made Katie shiver involuntarily.  She pulled back the hood of her robe, eyes piercing Katie from across the transmission.

 

“ _I have the complete case file of every alteration I made to Takashi Shirogane, as well as how to counteract them.”_

 

Her ears were buzzing.  It was too easy, anyway.  There was no way that every alteration had a countermeasure.  It would be unbelievable to even think such a thing existed… Katie knew that even if Haggar gave her the instructions, that didn’t mean anything if she herself couldn’t enact the countermeasures.

 

“What do you want _?”_ Katie asked warily, studying the facial expressions of the witch in front of her.

 

“ _Simple.  I just want my missing hardware.  Return the body of Theo to me, bag it if you have to, and I’ll leave you be.”_

 

Theo’s body, that they promised to return for a proper burial.  Katie knew it was currently in pieces in the morgue, and she knew that Jessa would probably be able to bag him pretty quickly but…

 

...that meant going against Agade, and that might spell out war.

 

Katie’s mind was whirring.  Was the information that might not help her worth one dead man?  The alternate problem was that Haggar could easily repurpose the hardware in Theo for another poor prisoner, or it could help her further develop her plans.  The idea of someone else being subjected to what Theo was subjected to made her sick to her stomach.

 

Jessa’s voice in her communicator, _“We’re at ninety-eight percent evacuation, just leaving the two of us and Shiro.  Everyone else got safely away.”_

 

No one was in danger anymore.  Katie felt herself relax imperceptibly, taking a deep breath.

 

This is what her and Shiro had been searching for, right?  Having Haggar’s notes would help them in their search immensely.

 

On the flip side, though, that would help Haggar advance her pursuits for creating synthetic life.  Who knows what horrors she could achieve by repurposing Theo’s tech?

 

_“There is a third option.”_

 

Katie looked up, stunned.  “What could that be?”

 

The witch smiled even wider, the red markings on her face glowing brighter.  “ _If you hand over Takashi to me, I will leave without a fuss.”_

 

Spontaneous laughter bubbled up in Katie’s mouth.  She brushed back her hair, adjusting her glasses as she stared up at the smug face of the witch.

 

“What do I get out of that, anyway?”  


_“You’ll live.”_

 

As she said that, something rang loudly over the comms, making Katie gasp and hold her head tightly.  Then, there was a resounding metallic pounding on the door to the control room, making her whole body break out in a cold sweat.

 

“ _I’ve activated my control module in the black paladin.  This means that he will fulfill my orders, no matter the cost.  You remember the chip at the base of the brain, I’m sure? If you give me permission to take him, you won’t die.”_

 

There were puzzle pieces missing, something that Katie couldn’t seem to draw a line between.  Why wouldn’t Haggar just control Shiro to meet her outside? Why did she need Katie’s express permission to take Shiro? Unless… unless she didn’t have complete control over Shiro.  Unless…

 

...unless she had a limit to her control, and she needed some visual proof that Katie had given up on him.  Or maybe she just wanted to break her spirit.  At this point she wasn't even sure about her motivations anymore.

 

There was only one feasible way out of this.

 

It was risky, she couldn’t deny, but Katie had to believe that the witch enjoyed playing with emotions almost as much as she loved raw, untapped power.

 

The pounding on the doors was louder now, a lump appearing in the metal where Shiro’s metal fist sunk into the door.

 

Tictoc, Katie.

 

Tictoc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Du-du-dum!!!!!!!!
> 
> Next time: Katie tries to save Shiro from himself while also keeping herself alive in the process


	12. This Feels Like Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie tries to bring Shiro back from the brink. Meanwhile, Haggar gives Katie a difficult choice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello loves<3 
> 
> I'm almost done writing this baby! There will be a thirteenth chapter and an epilogue, and those should be out in the next week or so!
> 
> This chapter is a little longer than normal, but it has a lot going on in it, too. The name of the fic comes up, btw! Keep an eye out for that little nugget
> 
> As usual, I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender

 

 

The banging on the door was matching the banging in Katie’s head as she tried to riddle out what to do.  She had a few ideas, but they were all seeming less and less feasible the longer she sat at the control panel, hands shaking in her lap.

 

Haggar cut off her screen, leaving Katie alone with her spinning thoughts.

 

As much as she wanted to believe that Shiro would never hurt her, she knew that if Haggar had hacked directly into his spinal cord there were no guarantees.  She wasn’t even sure how she would go about fixing that. She wasn’t a doctor, she was a…

 

She wasn’t a doctor, but she knew someone who was.

 

The door started to bend and crack as Katie said desperately into the communicator, “Jessa, did you hear any of that?”

 

“ _I heard all of it,”_ her voice came through, “ _I’m assuming that you have a plan?”_

 

Chuckling nervously, Katie whispered, “I do, but it’s dangerous and stupid.”

 

_“Sounds about right,”_ Jessa muttered fondly, and Katie’s hand came up to fold over her chest, heart beating fast against her ribcage.

 

“This… I’m not going to hold it against you if you leave,” Katie said, voice cracking a bit over the sound of the metal bending almost in half, a robotic hand reaching through to tear at the hinges.

 

There was silence on the other line as Katie backed up against the opposite wall of the door.  Eyes were zeroing in on Katie, tinged in red and terrifying. Shiro’s movements were erratic and jerky, and Katie whimpered when she saw that in his haste to get into the door he’d ripped up his forearms on the cracked metal.

 

“Takashi,” Katie whispered brokenly, “I hope that you believe in me right now.  I could use all the luck I can get.”

  


***

  


Takashi Shirogane was sitting around the breakfast table.

 

A newspaper was unfolded on his lap, and he was sipping his coffee, black, skimming over the article.

 

“It looks like they’ve started constructing the interplanetary gate,” Shiro said with a smile, putting down his _#1 Dad_ mug.

 

He heard the sound of shuffling, and lifted the paper up to look down between his legs.  A small girl with wild hair and dark eyes was looking up at him, giggling. “Does that mean we can go visit Aunt ‘lura?” she piped up, ignoring the paper and crawling into Shiro’s lap.

 

Chuckling, Shiro gave up on the paper.  “You know that until you’re twelve you can’t go off planet.  They have to give you all your shots and immunizations.”

 

Maddie crossed her arms, huffing.  Her tiny nose wrinkled as she muttered, “I’m almost twelve.”

 

Snorting, Shiro lifted her up, swinging her around once in his arms before placing her down.  “I didn’t realize that seven was almost twelve.”

 

“It’s more than halfway!” Maddie muttered hotly, holding up six fingers.  Then, she frowned and put on down so that there were five left.

 

There was a groan from the kitchen door, and Shiro looked up to see his wife standing there, dressed up in a pants suit and hair combed back into a braided bun, rubbing at her eyes.  “It’s too early for this.”

 

“For what, mommy?” Maddie skipped over to her mother, smiling innocently.

 

“Living,” Katie grimaced, reaching down to tickle Maddie and pull her up into a tight hug, and Maddie immediately climbed onto her back so that Katie’s arms were free.

 

With the mobility, Katie wandered over to Shiro, smiling and kissing him gently.  “Wow, you made coffee? Just for me?” she grabbed at Shiro’s piping hot cup and downed most of it, eyes glinting in mischief.

 

“You’re lucky that you have a huge presentation today otherwise I’d have to punish you.”

 

The words went completely over Maddie’s head, making Katie blush across her freckles.  “Lucky me, then.”

 

Maddie suddenly started wiggling frantically, and Katie dropped her to the floor gently.  “Daddy, come on, we have to watch the show! It’s coming on soon!”

 

She tore out of the room, tiny slippered feet making skidding sounds on the hardwood as she rushed to their living room.

 

Shiro pressed another kiss to Katie’s temple.  “You’re going to do fantastically.”

 

Quickly grabbing a granola bar, she ducked out the door.  “Maybe you can punish me for my bad behavior, later.  I have been a very bad girl.  Sound good?”

 

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Shiro grinned excitedly.  “Don’t ask unless you want it.”

 

Winking her bright eye at him, she whispered, “You know I always wanted you.”

 

Then she was gone, and Shiro followed his daughter out to the living room, where she was fiddling with the flat screen tv.  It was half the size of the wall, stretched about as tall as her and as wide as Shiro himself. Then, the program came on.

 

Maddie wrinkled her nose as the screen showed an image of bloody arms as they tore through a door, a shaking, younger version of Katie standing flat against the wall.

 

“I don’t like this,” Maddie whined suddenly, continuing to press on the remote frantically.

 

Shiro found himself getting up, possessed, coming up to the screen and trying to touch Katie but only being met with the screen.

 

Then, as quick as a blink Katie pulled out her bayard and flung the whip’s end to somewhere behind the two members of the audience, snapping it closed so that she went hurdling underneath the camera.

 

“Daddy, is that bad man going to hurt mommy?” Maddie’s voice was shaking, and Shiro turned to look at her, scooping her tiny form up in his arms.  

 

“Mommy is a warrior, remember?  She’s going to be just fine.”

 

His human hand came up to stroke at Maddie’s hair soothingly as she burrowed her face into the crook of Shiro’s neck.

 

The screen turned suddenly, and it felt like the camera was strapped to someone’s chest as it shakily chased Katie down the hallway.

 

Continuing to shush Maddie, Shiro watched with horror as Katie zoomed around corners and then hopped into an air vent, disappearing in a space too small for the camera to follow.  A familiar voice suddenly spoke out of the speakers.

 

_“You’ll have to figure out where she’s going, won’t you?”_

 

The voice was scratchy and low and Shiro felt himself freezing, and suddenly his daughter wasn’t in his arms anymore.  Frantically, Shiro screamed, “Maddie? Maddie, where are you?!”

 

The camera pounded up stairs and followed the sounds of crawling until he reached the morgue, flinging open the doors.

 

It happened in a blink; Katie had a gun in her hand, tears streaming down her face as she aimed and shot at the cameraman.

 

Shiro stumbled back, a sharp pain spider-webbing out from his upper thigh.  He looked down with horror and saw that he was bleeding through his pajama pants, not a fatal wound but still painful.

 

Then, without warning something jammed into the back of his neck, and the last thing he watched on the screen was two women hauling him up on an operating table.

 

The screen went black.

  


***

  


Katie’s hands were shaking as she started to run her program, trying her best not to watch as Jessa stopped the bleeding in the wound on Shiro’s thigh.  “You didn’t hit anything major,” the other woman reassured her, but Katie couldn’t stop feeling her finger automatically pull the trigger, knowing that that was what you did to enemies that were getting too close.

 

_Enemies,_ Katie sniffed, putting the final touch on the program.

 

“Okay, the bleeding has stopped, and it looks like you’ve managed to stop the input from outside into the chip.  Now you just have to put your own feed in, and you should be able to talk to him,” Jessa motioned to a chair next to Shiro’s slumped figure on the operating table, wires connected to the chip in the back of his neck.  Jessa had to guess where the chip was based off of Theo’s chip, and luckily she didn’t stab through his spinal cord.

 

Katie leaned back and allowed Jessa to hook up a crown of electrodes onto her head.  “You’ll be able to manipulate an avatar, but I’m not sure if he’ll be able to tell that it’s you.  You’re going to have to prove your identity to him before he believes you.”

 

“You said that his consciousness is trapped?”

 

Jessa nodded.  “All of the work I did on Theo last night suggests that the chip cuts off communication from the host and replaces it with communications from outside the body.  I can’t replicate the control, but I can try to get you in contact with his subconscious.”

 

There was the sound of crashing from nearby, and Katie’s eyes went wide.  “Wait, Jessa, I have to…”

 

Then Jessa cut her off, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips and turning on the machine, making Katie’s eyes roll back into her head as she went under.

 

“I’m sorry,” Jessa muttered, picking up Katie’s gun and bayard.  The bayard quickly formed into a waraxe, glimmering in green.

 

She remembered what Katie had said so many months ago.  The bayards were the weapons of the paladins, and that it formed different things depending on the user.

 

If she could use it, then…

 

Her fingers tightened on the handle as she rushed to a control panel, pressing the security code to have bars come down over the windows and doors, and she stood in front of Katie protectively, eyes narrowing as she cocked the gun.

 

“Come and get me, bitches.”

  


***

  


Katie woke up in a park.

 

At first she stood up and stumbled back onto the pavement, scraping the heels of her hands as she went down.  She was in a very impractical outfit, long sundress fanning around her as she struggled to get back up.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

She looked up and saw two dark eyes blinking rapidly at her, only inches away from her face.  A tiny girl had narrowed her eyes at Katie, who quickly got up, brushing the dirt off the green fabric.  

 

“I’m fine.  Where are your parents?” Katie looked around the park thoughtfully, before the girl giggled and pulled at Katie’s skirt.  The sound of leaves rustling in the wind soothed Katie’s fears inexplicably.

 

“You’re silly,” the little girl shook her head, wild pony tail whipping around her shoulders.  Katie realized that she was wearing an odd piece of metal machinery on a chain around her neck, but before she could ask about it the little girl went bolting off.

 

Blinking, Katie yelled, “Wait!” and scrambled after her, over the wood chips and around children playing in the sandbox.  Katie was trying to keep up with the little girl, a green ribbon flowing from her ponytail like a flag to remind her where she’d went.

 

Then, she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the little girl launch herself at a tall man’s leg, and he laughed good-naturedly, scooping her up and bringing her around his head so that she was perched with her side on his neck, sideways in the air and giggling hysterically.

 

The man who picked her up was Shiro, but he also… wasn’t.  He didn’t have a white streak in his hair, it was instead all brown.  He was smiling with a pair of reading glasses on, and when he met Katie’s eyes his laughter melted into an adoring smile.

 

“Did mommy chase you around the playground?” Shiro’s voice teased at the little girl, and Katie felt her blood run cold.

 

Wait… mommy?  


“Mommy asked me where my parents were so I brought her to daddy!” the little girl looked extremely proud of herself.

 

Shiro came over to Katie, towering over her in jeans and a tank top in the summer air, little girl still perched like a monkey around his shoulders.  “You were looking for me?”

 

“Uh… yeah,” Katie knew that she had something that she needed to do, but somewhere between where she was now and where she had been before the thought had escaped her.

 

A gentle breeze rustled some of Katie’s stray hairs in front of her glasses, the sweet perfume of the cherry blossom trees making her mind go fuzzy and content.

 

“I… I didn’t know about her,” Katie said lamely, pointing at the little girl who was now wrinkling her nose and kicking to get down.  Shiro plopped her onto the ground in front of Katie, and the little kid glared up at Katie.

 

“Maddie, that’s enough.  It isn’t polite to stare,” Shiro snapped at her, lifting her up into his arms again and flipping her upside down.  He made it look so easy, his strength easily showing as she giggled and wiggled to try to get out of his grip.

 

Maddie, huh?  Katie’s heart softened at how happy Shiro looked swinging around the little girl, her green ribbon whipping in front of her like…

 

...like…

 

...a flash of light made Katie gasp, suddenly remembering her own whip, and her bayard, and why she was there.

 

“Shiro, this isn’t real!”

 

Frowning, Shiro looked up at Katie, holding Maddie up in a handstand on the pavement.  “What do you mean?”

 

Swallowing, Katie said, “This is all in your head.  You’re hallucinating so that you won’t know what Haggar is making your body do.”

 

Eyes widening, Shiro pulled Maddie up suddenly and clutched her close to his chest, backing up.  “I don’t understand…”

 

The little girl peered at Katie with anger, clearly not liking that Katie had upset her daddy.

 

“Maddie isn’t real,” Katie felt herself begin to shake.  “This world isn’t real. It’s… you made it up because Haggar disconnected you from your body.”

 

Then everything around them plunged into darkness.  Everyone except for the three of them were gone, a spotlight on the tiny family illuminating them in the darkness as the edges of the world started to buzz with static.

 

Static suddenly buzzed in front of Shiro and then again next to Katie, and Maddie looked up at Katie darkly.

 

“You weren’t supposed to do that,” Maddie muttered without inflection, and then the static launched her behind Shiro, clutching onto his leg for dear life.

 

“Daddy I don’t like this!  What’s going on?!”

 

Shiro was frantic, looking at Katie with an air of betrayal that made her want to buckle with grief.  

 

He didn’t believe her.

 

“Shiro, please listen to me.  If you don’t wake up soon Haggar’s going to be able to connect back up with your chip.  You could kill me! Please believe me!”

 

His chest was rising and falling rapidly as his fingers came down to card through Maddie’s hair, who was watching Katie with dark, angry eyes.

 

Desperation surged in Katie, and she came forward, her green dress flickering out for a second before she was suddenly in a pants suit, and in her confusion she didn’t see Shiro come up and grab for her elbows.

 

He was looking deeply into Katie’s eyes, and she was caught like a deer in the headlights.

 

“You said something earlier,” Shiro said slowly, his hard face grimacing as he brought her a little closer to him.  “Something that I… I thought it sounded wrong, but I just… I wasn’t sure.”

Suddenly Shiro was brushing hair away from Katie’s face, whispering gravelly, “Have you always wanted me?”

 

The question shocked her, and a nervous giggle escaped Katie before tears started to well up in her eyes.  “No. I… it wasn’t always like this. We had to grow and change to get where we are today. I… didn’t want you, always, but I know for certain that I want you right now.”

 

Shiro’s face softened, and suddenly the air around his leg staticked out, and Maddie was gone, leaving the two of them inches apart in the spotlight.

 

“That’s what I thought,” Shiro brushed his lips against her gently, and Katie tackled him with a hug, shaking.

 

“You need to wake up, Takashi,” Katie said as she pulled him tightly to her.  “You need to wake…”

 

“...up,” Katie’s voice was suddenly echoing around the inside of a metal room, and she launched up in her chair, fingers pulling at the crown of electrodes as she huddled over Takashi.

 

He didn’t move, and she felt herself practically wilt before his eyes blew open wide, sitting up rapidly, just missing hitting his head against Katie’s.

 

“Katie?” Shiro’s voice rasped, robotic hand coming up to caress her face gently.

 

“You woke up.”

 

“Uh, touching reunion, but could I get a little help…?”

 

Katie turned around and saw Jessa shooting at drones, a glowing green waraxe coming down to cleave a drone in two.

 

Katie grabbed at the bone saw sitting on the mortician’s tool and brought it down onto another drone, which tore at its head until it just deactivated.

 

Frantically, Katie saw Jessa push another drone up against the wall with the axe, smashing it’s chest piece to bits.  She quickly found the door and slid over to it, wrapping a padlock around it and closing it so that no more drones could get in.

 

The drones were whirring insistently but broken down below them, and Katie sniffed, looking up at Jessa with relief.

 

Shiro sat up carefully, rubbing his head in his hands. “It’s like I can feel her trying to get her claws back into me…”

 

Resolute, Katie held her hand out for her bayard and started up the bone saw, looking back at Jessa with determination.  “I’m going to take one of the transports parked outside up to the ship.”

 

“What!?” both Jessa and Shiro yelled at the same time.  Jessa ran in front of the now padlocked door, blocking it with her body, dark hair falling into her face.  

 

“I have to keep Haggar busy while you take the chip out of Shiro,” Katie said softly, and Jessa shook her head rapidly.  

 

“That wasn’t part of this plan, Katie!  You said bring Shiro back, do the surgery, done.  Then we’d grab our own escape pod. Nowhere in this plan did you ever say that you’d be running off to do something stupid like this!”

 

Sighing, Katie tapped something on her wrist, and suddenly one of the windows lost their bars, and she broke it open with her elbow, climbing out and putting the bars back up.

 

“Get the chip out, Jessa, or all of this would have been for nothing,” Katie’s voice cracked and she smiled confidently at her friend through  the bars. “I can’t have you risking your life for me.”

 

She started running down the hall as she heard a shouted, angry, “Idiot!!!”

 

Just then a drone turned the corner, and Katie whipped out and grabbed onto it’s leg, pulling it to the ground and then sawing the chest piece in half before continuing down the hall towards the hangar.

 

When she got there, she saw that the few small transport vehicles were sitting idly, and she thanked her lucky stars as she climbed into one and turned it on.

 

Her eyes drifted closed just before she flew off, and she whispered into the universe, “keep them safe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel terrible for the cliffhanger again but this was the best place to split the chapter I swear!!!
> 
> If you like this, check out my other Voltron fics! I'm working on a darker Klance fic called [Fancy Meeting You Here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15062510/chapters/34920428) and a short series of fics about Klance that are a little lighter called [Our Hearts Beat As One](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1047074)


	13. Coming Down to Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie races to buy Jessa time for the surgery and to question Haggar about the modifications on Shiro. Then, back-up arrives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello loves<3
> 
> This is the last chapter. The epilogue will be up soon, though! I've gotten a request which was something I was already considering and I'm very happy with how it's turning out
> 
> This chapter will be wrapping everything up. I'm considering doing a one-off smut piece related to this one, so stay tuned for more information about that!
> 
> Finally, if you guys want to contact me, yell at me on twitter (painted_lady12) or tumblr (painted-lady12)
> 
> As usual, I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender

The door to the hangar opened and there was a mass exodus.  Drones started shooting, but Katie already put the shields up, buzzing directly towards the captain’s seat in the Galran warship.

 

A few fighters tried to shoot her out of the sky, but she ducked and weaved between them, too small and fast for them to land a single shot.

 

When she got to the window, she could see through the glass the purple sparks coming from the witch’s hands as she worked, and Katie only took a moment to appreciate the beauty of her eyes glowing purple in the dark room before Katie shot out the glass.

 

Immediately the vacuum of space pulled Haggar out, but she managed to get a hold of some of the broken glass around the edges, hand bleeding as she held on for dear life.

 

Then, in a flash she was gone, and Katie gasped at the feeling of hands grabbing her and then sucking blackess before being thrown back onto glowing purple floors.

 

Katie scrambled up, knowing that she must be on the ship somewhere.  Haggar was standing before her, and what didn’t come across in the screen before made Katie’s stomach drop.

 

The old witch had cracks in her arms and chest, pouring out purple light like bleeding wounds. 

 

Her eyes were pouring purple light, too, it tracking down her cheeks like a poor imitation of tears.

 

Her hand came up and shakily pointed at Katie, whose bayard stretched out into her whip.  “Green paladin, we meet again.”

 

Katie’s face remained impassive.  She just had to stall Haggar so she couldn’t focus on reconnecting with Shiro’s chip until it was removed.

 

From the looks of it, though, Katie wouldn’t have to do much at all.

 

“So it’s just been you and a battalion of drones for the last few years?” Katie asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

 

Haggar sneered.  “I’ve been biding my time, waiting for a sign.  When Theo’s tracker pinged for me I knew that it must mean that my time to rise has come again!”

 

She raised her arms in a grandiose way, but then doubled over, one of her cracks cracking wider.  

 

Katie felt like all of this was wrong.  The witch was quite literally falling apart at the seams at this point.  Holding onto Shiro must have been taking up a lot of her strength, and Katie suddenly felt pity twist her stomach uncomfortably.

 

“Give up,” Katie announced, cracking her whip against the metal wall and making green sparks scatter in a show of force.  “I won’t hold back.”

 

“You know nothing of the power I possess,” she hissed, cackling madly as more purple light slid sluggishly onto the floor.  “Your unevolved human mind can’t even comprehend it.”

 

It was then, suddenly and unexpectedly, that Katie realized that Haggar wouldn’t be able to connect with Shiro’s chip again, even if she tried.

 

“The chip,” Katie said slowly, “Does it connect directly to you, or to a computer?”

 

Haggar cackled again.  “The chip connects him to his owner.  The registered owner is me.”

 

Katie nodded, knowing that that meant that the chip connected to some sort of server that then took orders from whoever was named the registered owner.  If that was the case, then if anyone ever found the server, they could control Shiro.

 

“Who else knows where it is?”

 

Haggar raised her arms and purple electricity shot at Katie.  She easily tucked and rolled out of the way, staying on her feet but low to the ground.  

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know, peasant?”

 

One of Haggar’s eyes started glowing even brighter than before, and she hunched over, screaming out in pain.  Katie could see, intermingled with the purple, the red of blood.

 

Katie bit her lip, waiting for her to calm down a little before saying, “You made Shiro immortal.”

 

Looking up wildly, her hood had fallen back and hair was hanging limply.  “What?”

 

“You altered him so drastically that he isn’t aging,” Katie said louder, frustration showing across her features as she stood up a little straighter.  “I want to know if you can reverse it.”

 

Snorting, the witch hissed, “The only way to reverse what I’ve done is to remove all of the comet’s metal from his body.  Some of that is in his spinal cord and holding together parts of him. If you remove it, he’ll die.”

 

At that she took a step back like she’d gotten hit by something, and Katie grimaced as she fell on her hands and knees in the room.

 

It seemed that Haggar was… dying?

 

Grimacing, Katie took a step back, narrowing her bright eyes as a pulse of light radiated from Haggar’s cracks.

 

“You’re dying,” Katie stated coldly, to which the witch hissed.

 

“I’m about to be reborn,” she claimed, holding her middle together as the pulating got faster.  “In a fiery explosion of power I will be reborn into something even greater!”

 

Voltron had done a lot of research into the quintessence, and found that above all else, even though it extended life it often would destroy the host.  It was clear that Haggar was being overwhelmed by the power, but Katie’s blood ran cold when a ringing sound started coming from the witch.

 

The witch was right about one thing, and that was that she was definitely going to explode.

 

The blast would devastate the area.  In fact, it would probably take out the ship and the drones for them.  Looking around desperately, Katie tried to find some sort of exit so that she could escape the impending blast, but there was only one door in the place, and it was right behind Haggar’s screaming body.

 

It was then that Katie clicked on her communicator.

 

“Jessa?  It’s me.”

 

_ “Katie where are you?!  I’ve started the surgery to get the chip out but I’m going to be here for a while.” _

 

Would the blast reach the lab?  Katie’s stomach dropped. It might not, but the force of the blast would tear the ship apart, which would plummet down to the small moon.  

 

“Haggar is dying.  She’s about to go out in a quintessence meltdown,” Katie’s voice was oddly calm considering the circumstances.

 

On the other end, Jessa sucked in a breath _.  “That would destroy everything up there.  Katie you need to get out of there now.” _

 

“I can’t,” Katie’s voice broke a little bit, “I’m going to try to go around her in a minute but there’s a chance that the quintessence will just blow me apart.”

 

“ _ Oh,”  _ Jessa’s voice was solemn, “ _ What do you need me to do?” _

 

“Tell Shiro that the only way to reverse the immortality is to remove all traces of the comet, but that it could be incredibly dangerous considering where the metal is located.  Tell him that once the chip is out he should be a free man again, and she shouldn’t be able to control him. Tell him… tell him that I love him.”

 

There was a pause on the other line.  “ _ I’ll tell him when he comes out of anesthesia.” _

 

“...and Jessa?”

 

“ _ Yeah _ ?”

 

Katie felt her chest tightening.  “Thank you for being my friend. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

 

_ “I love you, too.” _

 

Katie turned off the communicator, readying herself to sprint past Haggar, who was holding at the seams of the cracks in her, which were starting to get wider.

 

She bolted.

 

The witch tried to make a grab at her, but fell uselessly onto the floor as cracks started spreading from her eyes.  Katie slid to the door, and turned around for one last look.

 

If it weren’t so dangerous, Katie would say that the way the quintessence was lighting up the room and cracking through Haggar was devastatingly beautiful.  Biting her lip, she ran.

 

Most of the drones appeared to be frozen.  It was likely that the psychic connection with Haggar had been broken as she fell apart, and Katie was able to run through the ship and get to the hangar of escape pods easily.  Her heart was racing. At any moment Haggar could explode. At any moment the ship could rip apart at the seams and toss Katie out into space.

 

When she found a small escape pod by the entrance, she climbed in, quickly using her knowledge of the Galran vehicles to commandeer the piloting system for herself.  

 

There was a huge crash and  _ boom  _ from somewhere in the ship, and Katie punched the escape pod forward, zooming through the entrance and flying as far away as fast as possible.

 

She couldn’t turn around because it would slow her down, but she felt the concussive blast of the ship being blown apart.  Shattered pieces rained down on the back of the pod, but it seemed that the ship wouldn’t be coming to tear Katie apart.

 

When she turned around, Katie felt her stomach drop.

 

The ship was in four separate pieces, one of which was fallen directly for the east end of the lab.  The other three pieces were falling farther away, being brought around the moon and pulled down east of the lab altogether.  Katie knew that Shiro and Jessa were on the west side, and she breathed a sigh of relief, starting to head straight for the lab.

  
  


***

  
  


Shiro was sitting at a booth in an old fashioned diner.  The music playing was from the 1950’s to 1970’s, mostly songs that Shiro had only heard in similar restaurants.  Maddie was sitting across from him, dark eyes gazing fixedly at her chocolate chip pancakes.

 

“Are you going to eat it?” Shiro asked, bemused, as Maddie poked at one of the cakes.

 

“It has a face,” she yelled as means of explanation for why she was staring at her breakfast.  The waitress had, indeed, made a face out of whipped cream on the top, with a sprinkling of chocolate chips starting to melt onto the hot surface.

 

Shiro sighed, laughing tiredly as he tried to come up with a solution.  “Would it help if it didn’t have a face?”

 

She nodded, and Shiro took his fork and went to smear the whipped cream so she wouldn’t have to look into the whipped eyes as she devoured him.

 

Maddie closed her eyes tightly and covered them with her tiny hands.  She had on a plastic bracelet that had an old, bent piece of metal attached.  She kept her eyes tightly closed as Shiro smeared the whipped cream to create a frothy layer of sugar over the top.  He whispered, “sorry,” sympathetically to the face as it was destroyed.

 

When Maddie opened her eyes, she cheered and started attacking her breakfast, quickly getting chocolate all over her small face.

 

Their waitress came over and smiled.  “Can I get you anything else?”

 

“We’re just waiting for my wife,” Shiro explained easily, staring at the door nervously, “she told us to start without her, but she should be here any second.  She’s going to want corned beef hash, in case you want to start that?”

 

The waitress clucked her tongue thoughtfully, then said, “How about you wave me over when she gets here?  I would hate for the food to get cold.”

 

Heart sinking in his chest, Shiro nodded, looking back at the door again.

 

Suddenly there were echoing voices from outside the diner.  Shiro was shocked when he looked outside, because it was a beautiful day and no one was yelling.

 

“Who is that?” Maddie inquired, pressing her face right up against the glass and accidentally wiping whipped cream in her hair.

 

Then, with a flash of static, everyone in the diner was gone.

 

The outside was a blank white color, and Shiro looked around with alarm.

 

“Daddy?”

 

Maddie’s face was terrified, and before he knew it something staticky appeared next to her.  She screamed, and Shiro lifted her up and started backing away from the table as…

 

...an Altean appeared at the booth.

 

She looked confused, glancing around herself and touching her own face.  She had small red markings on her upper cheekbones, and her grey hair was falling in a wavy curtain around her shoulders.

 

“Where am I?  What is this?” her voice was soft but panicked, looking around herself before she caught sight of Shiro, who was holding Maddie tight to his chest.

 

“I don’t know,” Shiro said honestly, turning slightly so that he was protecting Maddie with his body.

 

The woman looked up, and her pointy ears poking out from under her hair twitched slightly.  “You’re… you look familiar. Are you… you feel like a paladin.”

 

“I was,” Shiro answered, “I was the black paladin of Voltron.”

 

Her grey eyes widened.  “No, my husband is the black paladin.”

 

It all clicked for Shiro suddenly, and in his shock he whispered, “Honerva?”

 

She blinked a few times, looking down at her outfit.  She was dressed for being on earth in jeans and a ruffled blouse, and whispered, “I’m… yes, I think that that’s my name.”

 

“How did you get here?  We…” Shiro’s mind tried to conjure up something, but it quickly fell to static.  He could remember everything leading up to her attacking, and he could remember the last few years raising Maddie with Katie, but when he tried to see the connection between the two, his mind came up blank.

 

Honerva stood up suddenly, a little unsteady on her feet.  She didn’t look angry or upset, just confused.

 

“Is this your little girl?”

 

Shiro looked down at Maddie, who was now studying Honerva with interest, wiggling to get down.

 

Hesitantly Shiro set her down, letting Maddie march up to Honerva, coming up to around waist-high, and held out her hand.  “Nice to meet you!”

 

With a chuckle, Honerva took the tiny hand and shook it gently, a warm smile finding its way to her features.  

 

“I have a little boy.  I remember when he was this small,” she petted Maddie on the head gently, looking up at Shiro with confusion.

 

“This isn’t… this isn’t real.  Am I… I think I’m…”

 

Then, suddenly, everything disappeared around him.  Maddie, Honerva, the diner, everything disappeared in a blink.

 

Standing in front of him now was Katie, who looked extremely worried.

 

“Takashi, you have to wake up.”

 

Was he asleep?  Shiro tried to remember how he got here, but was coming up empty.

 

“Takashi, please,” Katie came forward and took his hand, holding it to her chest so that he could feel that… he could feel that there wasn’t a heartbeat.  “This isn’t real.”

 

Gasping for air, Shiro found himself sitting up in a hospital bed, looking around him frantically.  He was in a patient gown, and Katie was sitting next to the bed tinkering with some equipment. When she saw that he got up she jumped up herself, gently placing down the machine and tackling him back onto the bed.

 

“Hey,” a nurse snapped from the doorway, her blue face souring.  “We said for him to take it easy, remember?”

 

Ignoring her completely, Katie curled up against Shiro’s chest, holding him like he’d disappear if she let go.

 

“You’re alive,” Katie breathed out, and Shiro could see that she was in comfortable pants and a t-shirt, hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.  

 

“Where are we?” Shiro asked, voice hoarse, and she pulled back, her eyes watery with unshed tears.

 

“After the surgery Jessa said that you needed to get to a hospital.  Lance came with the calvary and they were able to escort you to one of the remote Voltron Alliance clinics.”

 

Looking around the room, he saw that there was a window looking out over a dusty blue planet.

 

When he heard his name, Lance poked his head in, relief washing over his features.  “Shiro’s awake!”

 

Before he knew it his room was flooding with people.  Lance and Hunk were in first, but Keith was close behind, coming right over to tackle Shiro with a hug as well.  Allura and Coran came in hesitantly behind them, smiling with relief.

 

Katie wouldn’t budge from where she was on Shiro’s lap, and allowed Keith to stay huddled next to them until he stopped shaking.

 

“Guys, I didn’t… how long was I out for?”

 

“A few days,” Lance said seriously, at the same time Katie said, “Eighty-four hours.”

 

That’s almost four days.  Shiro felt around on the back of his neck, wincing when he came into contact with a bandage over a sore spot.

 

“Jessa consulted with the doctor,” Katie’s hand came and tangled his fingers with hers so that he wasn’t fingering the bandage anymore.  

 

As if called, Jessa leaned against the doorframe, dark hair framing an awkward smile.

 

“Thank you,” Shiro said with every ounce of effort he could muster, tightening his grip on Katie’s hand.

 

“I’m just glad that you’re alright,” Jessa said, “If I didn’t do the procedure correctly you could have been paralyzed.”

 

“...but you aren’t,” Katie said proudly, looking over at Jessa with a grateful smile.  “You’re going to be okay.”

 

After a moment, Lance suddenly looked down at Katie and Shiro’s hands tangled together.

 

“Wait… when did we sanction this?!” he squealed, looking over at Hunk for help.

 

Keith pulled back and saw the display too, making a choking sound.

 

Allura chuckled, sitting onto the end of the bed.  “I guess we were so happy that you were okay that we didn’t notice… this.  When… how…?”

 

Through her long lashes Katie looked up at Lance and Keith, sticking her tongue out mockingly.

 

“We’re figuring it out,” Shiro said, which made Katie lean back against Shiro’s chest again, marinating in his warmth.

 

Hunk cleared his throat, patting them both on the shoulders.  “Well, I’m happy for you!”

 

“Thanks  _ Hunk,” _ Katie huffed, smiling up at him.  “I’m glad someone supports us.”

 

“I never said I didn’t support you!” Lance’s voice said up another octave, which was very difficult considering how high his voice was already.

 

The group laughed good naturedly, and Shiro put his arms around Katie protectively, surrounded by his family.

  
  


***

  
  


When Shiro was discharged, Katie and him went back to the moon base.  Allura, Coran, Keith, Lance, and Hunk helped them start to clean up after the fight, along with numerous other soldiers sent by the Voltron Alliance.

 

Shiro and Katie were excused from cleaning up.  Shiro because he was still recovering, and Katie because she refused to leave his side.  

 

They were curled up in their bed together, the soft swishing of the leaves in the trees lulling them both into quiet stupors.

 

“Hey Shiro?”

 

Katie’s bright eyes looked into his dark ones, searching for something.  “Yeah?”

 

Biting her lip, she asked, “Do you remember being trapped in your mind?”

 

The memories came back to punch him in the chest, and he nodded, grip on her tightening.  “Yeah, I do.”

 

Her voice got even quieter.  “So you remember Maddie?”

 

“Yeah,” Shiro’s voice was choked up, and he pressed a reassuring kiss to Katie’s forehead.

 

“Do you… do you think we’ll ever actually be like that?  A normal family with a kid on earth? I can’t… I can’t even imagine that ever really happening.”

 

Stroking back her wild hair, Shiro said thoughtfully, “I don’t see it that way.  I see you continuing to do your work from earth, and at some point a baby comes into the picture.  It doesn’t seem so crazy to me.”

 

Huddling closer to him, she pressed a kiss against his neck.  “I guess you’re right.”

 

There was a moment of silence before Shiro said quietly, “I saw her, Katie.  When I went back under.”

 

Katie pulled back, confusion on her features.

 

“Haggar… or, Honerva… she appeared in my head for a few moments.  She didn’t know how she got there. She glitched out just as quickly but… I saw her there.”

 

Thoughtful, Katie leaned back onto him, saying softly, “That would make sense.  Her psychic connection to you was taking up a lot of her energy. It would make sense why an imprint of her would still be in your head.”

 

The settled into silence again, before Shiro’s chest vibrating as he asked, “Hey, Katie?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I’m not going to get older, am I?”

 

Katie’s fingers fisted into Shiro’s shirt, and she shook her head against the fabric.  “No, you aren’t. Jessa and I sat with your scan for two days to see if we could get the material out without compromising your quality of life.  It’s… you’d be paralyzed, Takashi, and that’s the best case scenario.”

 

Stroking her head gently, Shiro mumbled, “I… I don’t want to become Theo.”

 

He was avoiding Katie’s eyes, who gently brought her hand up to the side of his face.  “I won’t let that happen.”


	14. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look twelve years later shows what has changed for the paladins, as well as what hasn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright everybody this is the last chapter!
> 
> I just want to give a shout-out to XxShyxX for encouraging me to go with the wedding theme for the chapter. Also, I wanted to give a shout out to everyone who has been reading this fic. You guys are all stellar and I hope this ending is satisfying.
> 
> As usual, I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender

****

Sometimes Shiro had to pinch himself.

Like now, standing under the cherry blossom trees waiting patiently.  Music was playing softly in the background, and his arm was looped with a short girl in heels and a green dress, flowing out like a waterfall down her lanky form.

“When is our signal again?” A nervous Hunk leaned forward and asked the two of them.  He himself was in a nice black suit with a yellow bow tie and cumberbund. Matching his outfit was Shay, who was staggeringly tall and wearing a beautiful dress draping over her figure.  Allura was in a pink dress behind him, arm linked with a member of the Blade.

Allura whispered, “It’s every five seconds.”

“Five seconds.  Got it,” Hunk stood up a little taller, patting Shiro on the shoulder in his green and black suit.  “You look awesome, by the way.”

“It took him and Lance weeks before they could decide on this,” Katie poked Shiro’s side playfully.  “They were agonizing over whether to make him his Paladin colors or her Paladin colors. They decided to compromise.”

Hunk and Allura snickered, but Shiro didn’t look ashamed at all.  In fact, he was too busy staring at Katie in her dress.

“What?” she wrinkled her nose, looking up at him with fake annoyance.

“I love you,” Shiro said happily, leaning down to kiss her.

Shay cleared her throat, though, because the couple in front of them had left, and they needed to start counting down.

“Five,” Katie whispered, taking Shiro’s arm and glancing up at him.

Beaming with affection, Shiro whispered, “Four.”

“Three,” Katie adjusted her dress and stood up straight, tucking the white flower in her hair farther into her bun.

“Two,” Shiro stepped them forward so that they were at the end of the aisle.

“One,” they both said together as they stepped forward to the beat of the music.

As Shiro walked out onto the purple carpet leading up to the altar, a few of their friends gasped and smiled, cameras flicking off.

The church itself was a beautiful affair, all old fashioned vaulted ceilings lined with gorgeous stained glass.  The sunlight streaming in from the blue and yellow mosaic cast everyone assembled in a bright, happy hue. 

Shiro looked over at Katie for a moment, and saw her lips move minutely with her mauve lipstick on, keeping track of the beat of her steps so she didn’t speed up too much.  Feeling a surge of confidence, Shiro looked up at the altar.

A few of the groomsmen and bridesmaids were already up front, standing and waiting patiently.  The organ boasting the processional echoed melodiously off of the many crevices and pillars.

When they got to the front of the procession, Shiro and Katie parted ways.  Shiro squeezed her hand as he got one final look at her- the ribbon wrapped around her waist, the sparkling flowers lining the straps of her dress reflecting like a brilliant star.

For a moment he remembered a very different day, one where Katie’s dress billowed out white…

They took their places, the rest of the wedding party following suit.

The ring bearer came down next, and it was none other than Lance’s nephew Leo, who was smiling wide with most of his teeth missing.

Then, the flower girl walked in, and even though Shiro had seen her already, he couldn’t stop the hard pang in his chest when Maddie came out onto the aisle next.

A perfect flower girl in a tea length rose-gold dress, her dark hair pinned up with rose gold tulips, Maddie started to very delicately carry on her job of flower girl.  The petals were being sprinkled onto the aisle with what looked like a lot of concentration.

Maddie had been a surprise.  When Katie had found out she was pregnant, they weren’t even married yet.  It was a simple matter of putting together an intimate yet powerful ceremony, and soon the two were busy planning for their family.

Or, Shiro thought with a chuckle, Lance planning their family.  Shiro was so busy trying to keep Katie from over-exerting herself during the pregnancy and Katie was so busy making sure that her, in her words, “science will not suffer just because I’m a human incubator!”

They’d bounced around to a lot of different names, but they kept coming back to this one.  Maddie was Shiro’s whole world. He was a proud stay-at-home dad, and his daughter was as fierce and dedicated to everything in her life as she was at making sure the petals were evenly spread onto the aisle.

Katie’s parents were taking pictures like paparazzi from their seats, fawning over the little girl.  They were doting, that was for sure. Shiro was so grateful that they wanted to help out in any way they could.

The music changed suddenly, and the organ was replaced by the sound of a guitar riff, drums quickly joining in as a small group towards the back of the church started playing…

“Is this… AC/DC?” Shiro heard someone whisper from the front, and Shiro laughed as two men in gorgeous white and black tuxedos appeared along the sides of the church.

The pews were arranged so that there was a center aisle and two side walkways for people to come in and out.  However, once the music started, both of the aisles on either side were suddenly occupied. There was a man on one side in a classy white tux, playing air guitar and making eye contact with the man across the church from him.  Lance’s face froze for a moment as he saw his fiance, losing his groove for a moment before continuing to rock down the aisle.

As Lance froze, Keith smirked, eyes glittering with mischief as he also started moving, the words quickly transitioning to a chorus of “Thunderstruck”, the two of them locking eyes as they walked towards each other in an epic dance off

It was hilarious, because Lance did most of the wedding planning with his sister, and Keith only had a few requests.  One, that they not have some ridiculously lavish cake and instead have donuts, and two that they could walk down the aisle at the same time to a classic rock hit.

Lance had been hesitant, but after a few run throughs he was all for it.

The two of them were complete dorks as they danced towards the altar, meeting in the middle as they arrived and quickly doing a few spins with each other, Lance dipping Keith before the two of them, red-faced and practically blinding with their happiness, stood before the priest.

Shiro’s eyes kept drifting over to Katie throughout the ceremony.  She just looked so perfect to him. His chest ached with the amount of love he felt in his heart towards his wife.

They hadn’t told anyone yet, but Katie was pregnant again.  It was barely a few weeks, so they were keeping it to themselves, but Shiro was completely obsessed with Katie when she was pregnant.  He was protective, much to her chagrin, and there was just something about her that shone a little brighter.

She was carrying his kid, after all.  To Shiro, that was enough to worship the very ground she walked upon. 

As the two grooms kissed each other, he couldn’t help but look at Katie scooping up Maddie in her arms, waving as the two of them held hands and started running from the church.

His wife pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead and started whispering something to her.  Knowing Katie, she was probably reciting the periodic table of the elements again, or singing her song to remember the access codes to get into Coran’s laptop remotely (to check his location to ensure that he didn’t die in the wilderness somewhere).

As the doves were released and the last photo of Lance and Keith was taken of the two of them kissing passionately under the archway leading into the church, Shiro felt a pang in his chest for his best friend.

Hunk patted him on the shoulder.  “They’re going to make each other so happy,” he said with a wide grin, and Shiro nodded, watching the two of them run to Keith’s hoverbike, that they were going to take the two blocks it took to get to the reception.

The reception itself was incredible.

Between Lance’s designs and Keith’s music tastes, the dance floor was going crazy.  Shiro was having a blast carrying Maddie around and dancing with her, lifting her into the air and spinning her around.  Hunk and Lance insisted on stepping in with her a few times, but luckily Shiro was still her favorite.

Keith came over with Lance and Hunk were showing Maddie how to do a popular dance move, his black tuxedo reflecting the glowing candlelights and flashing disco ball like a rainbow.  His dark hair was shorter than when he was younger, gelled back at what could only be Lance’s insistence.

As they watched the others dance, Keith nudged Shiro from the side.  “It means so much that you guys could come today.”

Scoffing, Shiro muttered, “I wouldn’t miss this, Keith.  I’m so happy for you.”

The groom bit his lip, watching Lance with a tenderness that was saved only for his husband.  “Did things change when you and Katie got married?”

“Yes and no,” Shiro admitted, watching Katie have a very engaged conversation with a few of the other bridesmaids across the hall, “It was like we’d become something bigger than the two of us individually could ever be.  I love her more and more everyday, and knowing that we’re married, and that we have our kids, fills me up with so much joy.”

Snickering, Keith bumped Shiro’s shoulder.  “When did you get all sappy?”

“Love does that to you.”

Katie glanced over at the two of them, suddenly looking pensive.

“You two are going to be great.”

****  
  


***

****  
  


Katie was in the middle of telling an embarrassing story about when Lance slipped in the training room and got pantsed by a training droid as she caught Keith walking up to Shiro.  Her breath caught at the sight of Keith- who was now the older of the two- smiling and talking with Shiro. Her husband locked eyes with her suddenly, and she knew she was being talked about.

Shiro hadn’t changed once in seventeen years.  He’d died his hair so that it was all brown again, but he hadn’t aged at all.  it wasn’t that alarming when they were younger, but then Katie grew older than him.  Now they had a daughter, and another kid on the way, and Shiro still wasn’t aging.

They were at a loss for what to do.  

Katie watched Shiro’s face as he suddenly looked dreamily up at the ceiling, making gestures that made Keith wrinkle his nose in affection and disgust.

Keith, the broader of the two now.  Keith, who was now almost as bulky as Shiro.  Keith, who had once been seven years younger.

Katie had once been ten years younger, but now…

Hunk and Lance had picked up Maddie and were swinging her on their joined arms like a swing, and as Katie watched her daughter giggle and her hair pins started to fall out, she couldn’t help but wonder if her and her daughter would grow up together while Shiro remained the same.

****  
  


***

****  
  


Later that night, Katie and Shiro found their way back to their hotel room.  They’d hired one of Lance’s cousins to watch Maddie for the night, and when the door closed, Katie was already taking her hair down, tears in her eyes.

“Hey,” Shiro’s thumb brushed against her cheek delicately, kissing the skin under her eyes with concern.  “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s the fucking hormones,” she complained, hands coming out and running up Shiro’s toned chest, “I’ve been an emotional wreck for three days over this stupid wedding.”

“Stupid?” Shiro asked dubiously, and she smacked his prosthetic arm, taking a deep breath.

“I just… want to be close to you,” her voice was raw with emotion as she turned around so that Shiro could help her with the zipper.  “I want you so badly, Shiro.”

Smiling as he pressed a kiss into her now loose curls, Shiro’s fingers worked deftly to get Katie out of her clothes and let his wide, calloused hands wander over her back lovingly.

“You’re beautiful,” Shiro whispered, gathering her up in his arms and lowering her onto the bed in her lacy underwear and bra.

Katie’s eyes traveled over Shiro’s fully clothed form, tuxedo and all.

“Strip for me,” she ordered, head cocking to the side and eyes sparkling.

He took it slow, taking his time with each article of clothing.  When they got to the button-down under the cumberbund, Katie got impatient and literally ripped it off of him.

They soon were tangled up in the sheets completely naked, lips crashing together and sliding against each other, mapping the familiar terrain with practiced hands.

As Shiro’s hands came down to caress her stomach, he whispered, “You’re so incredible when you’re like this.”

The telltale whimper had Shiro continuing on, kissing down to her abdomen and pressing sucking kisses to her skin there.  

“It’s true, though.  My favorite part, though, is that I can stuff you full of come without having to worry about consequences.”

They talked like this often; Katie was a self-admitted slut for Shiro’s cock.  They were married, and happy, and this is what got her hot and bothered at the end of a long night.

“Are you going to stuff me full tonight?” Katie whispered breathily as Shiro’s lips started moving lower to begin eating her out.

Shiro shook his head between her thighs, nudging them apart as he met her eyes.  “I’m going to take it slow and make it last.”

The air in the room was suddenly charged with a different kind of energy.  This was an expression of their love, pure and simple. This wasn’t just two horny adults getting it on, even though they still did that often.  Shiro was determined to make his lover feel worshipped and appreciated.

He started by devouring her cunt, making sloppy wet noises as she whined and tightened her hand in his dark hair, fingers running through the locks as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over her.

Soon his fingers joined in, and she had two fingers inside of her and her clit between his teeth when she orgasmed the first time, shaking and sighing in ecstasy as Shiro came back up to kiss her mouth.

“That’s it, my love,” Shiro’s voice was full of emotion as Katie’s arms wrapped around him and pulled him closer to her, legs wrapping around Shiro’s waist eagerly.  “I’m all yours.”

Shiro slipped into her easily, holding her hips up and driving into her torturously slowly.  She begged and pleaded for him to go faster, but he continued his loving workover of her body.  He kissed every inch of her skin as they fucked, positions changing so he could get the angle right.

His wife was clutched tightly in his lap, their torsos flesh and Shiro driving up into her while holding her body still, as Shiro whispered, “I’m all yours, Katie.  Forever.”

When they collapsed into a sweaty heap, Katie nuzzled against him, normally hating the skin-to-skin contact right after sex but needing it right now.  Their hands played with each other on Shiro’s chest, fingers intertwining and wrestling and making the two of them sleepily giggle.

Then, Katie fell asleep.

It was easy enough to wait for Katie to roll over to sneak out of the room.  He left the note on the nightstand, feeling physically ill for leaving without saying good-bye.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be good-bye forever.

****  
  


***

****  
  


Jessa was waiting for him at the lab.  She smiled and introduced her team of surgeons and doctors and healers, some of which were there to consult and some to observe the procedure.

“Ready?” the dark-haired woman asked with a sad smile, gesturing in the door.

“As I’ll ever be,” Shiro answered, determination set in the line of his jaw.

He was going to become a father again, and the thought of not only watching one of his children grow older than him, but two was unbearable.  It was already nearly impossible to imagine Katie growing older than him, even more than she already had.

Quickly Jessa injected Shiro with a drug, telling him to lay back and relax.  

Then, without much warning, he was sitting in a diner again.

These dreams were always the same, except that after Maddie was born he stopped seeing her here.  The waitress took his order, and then looked over at Honerva, chirping, “What can I get for you, ma’am?”   
  


“Coffee and an egg and cheese on rye,” the Altean ordered without much thought, handing the menu over and looking at Shiro with interest.

“Today’s the day, huh?” she was watching him with some sort of excitement buzzing under her skin.  She’d changed over the years in Shiro’s head. When Maddie was still in the dreams, she would often come dressed as a silly character, but since it was just the two of them he could usually find her in traditional Altean lounging clothes, long sleeves and jewels looking very out of place in a diner like this.

The two of them ate in relative silence.  When they were done, Honerva looked up at Shiro thoughtfully.  

“The wedding was nice?”

“It was beautiful.”

Easy, simple conversation quickly diminished as soon as both of them were done eating and drinking.

However, when that happened, the diner emptied out in a flash of static.  The fellow patrons and waitress and kind hostess were all gone in a flash, and their table was cleared of all dishes and garbage.

Honerva held her hand out for Shiro.  “Better late than never, right?”

As their hands connected, a white light flashed from her eyes, and suddenly Shiro felt like the world was collapsing around him.  The napkin holders exploded and his body screamed in protest as it felt like ihs insides were being ground up and chewed, burning white hot.  Shiro screamed, all of the windows smashing in a brilliant show of the power the Altean had.

Then it was all dark, and Shiro was standing in a singular spotlight with Honerva next to him, clutching his hand as she whispered words to a spell.

Shiro looked around him, suddenly, as images started playing in the dark expanse around them.  Images of the wedding, of Maddie’s first steps, of his wedding day, of the day he told Katie how he really felt…

All these powerful memories held him grounded as his insides continued to feel like they were being roasted alive.

“Just a few more minutes, paladin.  You need to hold on.”

Honerva’s voice wasn’t particularly comforting as she was the one inflicting the damage, but it gave Shiro something to listen to, too.

In what felt like a flash, Shiro gasped awake.  

Sitting at his bedside was someone he didn’t expect.  Katie was sitting next to him, a manuscript of hers open on her lap.  She was biting the top of the pen, highlighter tucked into her hair. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, and she was sitting in comfortable pants and one of his oversized t-shirts that looked like a dress on her.

“I… how…?” Shiro didn’t know how Katie knew about the operation, but there she was, not looking particularly alarmed.

“Oh,” she looked up, sudden intake of breath a sign that she had been at least a little worried, “Oh, you’re awake and not a vegetable!”

She sat on his bed next to him, taking his hand in hers.

“Do you really think you could plan a dangerous surgery with Jessa for months and I wouldn’t know about it?” her expression was disbelieving, but… the man had thought it was a secret.  Apparently secrets weren’t kept so closely, anymore.

Closing his eyes, he pulled Katie’s hand up to his lips, closing his eyes tightly against the tears gathering there.

“Did it work?”

Sighing heavily, Katie ran her other hand through Shiro’s hair.  “Jessa said she got everything out except for the few shards in your spinal cord.  They were all replaced with metals that are commonly found on earth and are nontoxic.  The one in your spinal cord, though, she said that that was going to be taken care of separately?”

Honerva had been visiting Shiro’s dreams for years, and a few months ago had come to him with a plan.

“ _ I can transfigure the metal shards in your spinal cord.  If you can get a surgeon to remove the rest, I can draw upon your life energy to change the material that can’t be removed into something else.  Maybe that will work.” _

They hadn’t known for sure, and they wouldn’t know for sure for a while, still.

Katie’s face was calm, watching him with love and concern.  “I guess only time will tell then, huh?”

****  
  


***

****  
  


A year and a half later, Shiro’s hairline started receding a little bit.

It wasn’t enough for them to accept it, so they ran some tests on Shiro, and it still said that he was in his mid-twenties.

However, when he started getting a few wrinkles, small and almost unnoticeable, they finally started to let themselves believe that Shiro was getting older.

Their little family thrived together.  Katie’s work kept her very busy, but she always made time for her children and husband.  Shiro was busy with Maddie and Sadie, and was often called in to help sit in on peace talks and conferences with the Voltron Alliance.

When Shiro started to feel the exhaustion of aging on his body, he looked at Katie thoughtfully.

“You once said that you wouldn’t let me become Theo,” Shiro brushed her hair back and she kissed his palm as he did it, “What did you mean?”

“Obviously I was going to create a virtual reality world and then download your consciousness out of your body and into the VR environment,” she was looking up at him fondly.

“I thought you were just going to kill me as you were dying,” Shiro muttered in surprise, and Katie attacked him, pinning him down on the bed.

“Why is your immediate thought that I would murder my own husband?”

He wasn’t sure why, but that was indeed where his brain had wandered off to.

“I love you, you know that, right?” Katie came forward and kissed and licked at his neck, sucking marks into his skin.

“I love you, too,” Shiro whispered, his voice starting to get gravelly from age.  They were growing old together, just like he’d wanted.

Maddie didn’t have to watch her daddy as she aged past him.  Sadie didn’t have to know that her dad had been immortal at all.

His eldest daughter was wearing a necklace that had his chip embedded in glass.  It was there to remind him what he had been fighting for.  His dreams had one thing correct, and that was that he'd want his biggest enemy to be connected to what he held so dearly.

 

All was at peace.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all, folks!
> 
> Originally I was going to wait until Maddie and Sadie were older for Shiro to go out and perform the ritual, but I realized then that it wouldn't fit Shiro's character to wait so long.
> 
> If you like this, check out my other Voltron fics! [Fancy Meeting You Here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15062510/chapters/34920428) is about Klance undercover to take down a sex slave operation, and [Our Hearts Beat as One](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1047074) is mostly just Klance fluff/smut with a smidge of angst


End file.
